2023-11-03 21:13:10
During a visit to Israel on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed Washington’s desire to see humanitarian truces in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, while recognizing the challenge of preventing the Palestinian terrorist group from Hamas to use these temporary cessations to its advantage.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Blinken met shortly before his news conference in Tel Aviv, appeared to oppose such truces, saying in a statement that he rejected any temporary interruption in the fight against Hamas that does not would not include “the release of our hostages”. He noted that he had said the same thing to America’s top diplomat.
In another sign of some openness between the two sides, Blinken called for the supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip, as well as other forms of humanitarian aid, specifying that “mechanisms” could be put in place to guarantee the delivery of this aid to hospitals in Gaza. He also raised concerns, shared by Israel, that Hamas was siphoning off fuel for its own needs. Netanyahu, for his part, insisted that Israel “will not allow fuel into Gaza.”
In his remarksthe US foreign policy chief stressed that, “as long as the United States stands, Israel will not stand alone,” adding that he relayed this message in his meetings with Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and the War Cabinet.
He also reaffirmed that Israel had “the right and, indeed, the obligation to defend itself and to do everything in its power to ensure that October 7 never happens again.” But at the same time, he added, “the way Israel does it is important,” and he added bluntly: “We must do more to protect Palestinian civilians.” »
“No country should or could tolerate the massacre of its innocents,” he declared, adding that he had been shown “other images, other sequences, collected by the Israeli government from video cameras – some belonging to the terrorists themselves, others located in communities that were attacked” by Hamas and other terrorists on October 7. These sequences are “almost beyond human capacity to process,” he said.
Destruction caused by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near the Israel-Gaza border, southern Israel, October 20, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Blinken called it “shocking” that the brutality of the massacre had already “faded so quickly from the memory of so many people.” This is not the case in Israel and the United States, he added, recalling that 33 Americans were killed in the massacres, as well as 220 foreign nationals.
At the same time, he asserted that protecting the Palestinians while Israel wages its war was the “right thing to do” and that failing to do so “played into the hands of Hamas.”
Israel launched its war against Hamas on October 7, after the terrorist group carried out a bloody assault in southern Israel, killing some 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostages. The vast majority of those killed that day were civilians, many of whom were massacred in their homes. In response to these killings, Israel promised to eradicate the terrorist group and destroy its infrastructure. The army has since struck thousands of Hamas targets inside the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and an ongoing ground operation. Israel says it targets all areas where Hamas operates while seeking to minimize civilian casualties.
Israeli reprisals have caused more than 9,000 deaths in the Palestinian territory, according to Hamas. Death tolls released by the Hamas-run Health Ministry cannot be independently verified and include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including from failed rocket attacks. by the terrorist group itself.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media during a news conference, in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 3, 2023. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)
Hundreds of thousands of Gazans from the northern Gaza Strip have settled in tent camps in the south, as Israel warned of an intensification of its operation on Gaza City. The United Nations and international actors have warned of a potential humanitarian catastrophe and called on Israel to significantly increase the aid allowed into the Gaza Strip through Egypt’s Rafah crossing.
Advice Only Best Friends Can Offer
Blinken said he had discussed with Israel what steps to take to fight under these conditions – “advice that only the best of friends can offer.”
He stressed the need to increase aid to civilians in Gaza – 100 trucks a day is not enough, he said – and to take additional measures to allow more foreign nationals to leave the Gaza Strip. He said he had spoken with Israeli leaders about concrete steps to ensure “food, water, medicine, fuel and other essential needs” are met.
Palestinians witness the scale of destruction following an Israeli strike on the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on November 1, 2023. (AFP)
Blinken acknowledged that legitimate questions had been raised in his talks with Israeli officials about how best to use humanitarian truces to allow more aid to flow and help free hostages, while preventing the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to use the temporary interruptions to its advantage.
But he also stressed that refusing to allow the arrival of this aid would have the effect of inflaming the anger of potential peace partners and alienating them. “There will be no partners for peace if they are monopolized by [la crainte] of a humanitarian catastrophe [parmi les habitants de Gaza] and alienated by any presumed indifference to their plight. »
He called for “humanitarian pauses” which he said would strengthen the security of Gaza’s civilians and deliver more effective aid. He said he had discussed with Israeli leaders “how, when and where” these pauses could take place. “Preparing and coordinating these breaks would take time, and legitimate questions arise about how to tie these breaks to the release of the hostages and to prevent Hamas from abusing these breaks.
Blinken said that just as he was pained to see how the carnage had affected Israeli children, he felt the same way watching Palestinian girls and boys pulled from the rubble of buildings bombed by Israel.
Palestinians try to rescue a little girl from the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2023. (Abed Khaled/AP)
“When I see them, when I look at their eyes on the television screens, I see my own children,” Blinken said. “How could I do otherwise? »
The secretary of state clarified that Hamas does not care about the Palestinians and “cynically and monstrously uses them as human shields”, placing its infrastructure and its terrorists in residential buildings, schools, mosques and hospitals . But “civilians should not suffer the consequences of its inhumanity and brutality.”
He added that the United States was working tirelessly to secure the release of hundreds of hostages held by Hamas, including Americans.
Blinken did not suggest that the United States was seeking to limit the duration of the war and even spoke of a post-war era “once Hamas has been defeated.” He said the goal of the war could not only be to eradicate Hamas, but also to create a better future that would include a two-state solution.
“It is about defeating Hamas physically, that is, ensuring that it cannot repeat what it did on October 7. But it’s also about defeating an idea, a perverted idea, with a better vision of what that future can be and demonstrating that we are committed to making it happen,” Blinken said.
He added that the two-state vision could “give people something to look forward to” and that there was a broad and strong coalition across the region supporting it.
Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip during the war against Hamas, in a photo released on November 3, 2023. (Israeli Army)
“We also know that Israel cannot regain control and responsibility for Gaza. And it is important to note that Israel has made it clear that it has neither the intention nor the desire to do so,” he said in response to a question. He promised to discuss “with partners across the region and beyond what should follow once Hamas is defeated.”
Faced with rising violence by West Bank settlers since the start of the war, Blinken said Israeli leaders had assured him they would condemn attacks on Palestinian civilians and take steps to stem this phenomenon and so that the perpetrators of these attacks are held accountable for their actions.
“Extremist violence against Palestinians must stop,” he noted. “We will closely monitor that our friends respect this commitment. »
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, and his team meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and war cabinet members and observers, at Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, November 3, 2023 (Credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Blinken’s visit was the third since the start of the war. He must then go to an Arab summit in Jordan.
Netanyahu: “We will not stop until victory”
In his brief televised statement before the start of Shabbat, Netanyahu promised that victory in Gaza will be “crisp and clear” and will “resonate for generations.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu giving a televised speech, November 3, 2023. (Screen capture / GPO)
He said Israel’s enemies were seeking to destroy the country and would not succeed. “We will not stop until victory,” he declared, specifying that this meant “destroying Hamas, [et obtenir] the return of the hostages and the restoration of security for our citizens and our children.”
He praised Israeli soldiers, saying they were killing terrorists “around the clock” in Gaza, thanks to close cooperation between the IDF ground and air forces.
Regarding Blinken’s visit, he said he appreciated it and appreciated the support of US President Joe Biden and the United States. He said he told Blinken “that Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire that would not include the release of our hostages. Israel will not allow fuel into Gaza and opposes sending money into the Strip.”
The fuel question
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military released a recording of what it said was a phone call from the day before, in which a Gazan health official acknowledged that Hamas’ fuel reserves were stored directly under al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli public broadcaster Kan, Israeli officials intended to present this call, along with other evidence on the matter, to Blinken, in an attempt to reduce international pressure to allow fuel into the country. the Gaza Strip.
“The call confirms that Hamas controls energy and fuel resources in the Gaza Strip and chooses to direct them toward terrorism,” the IDF said in a statement. “Furthermore, if fuel is allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, Hamas plans to seize these resources. »
Trucks carrying fuel traveling in the Gaza Strip, October 22, 2023. (Credit: Mohammed Abed/AFP)
On Thursday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Israel would allow fuel into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing with Egypt if Israel determines that hospitals no longer had fuel.
Gaza’s hospitals, which rely on fuel to power generators, have been warning for more than a week that they were about to run out, Halevi noted, but so far none have ended up in such a situation.
Shortly after Halevi’s comments, the prime minister’s office issued a terse statement saying only that Netanyahu “did not approve the entry of fuel into the Gaza Strip.”
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