Blinken cites ‘gap’ in Israel measures to avoid killing civilians
“There does remain a gap between…the intent to protect civilians…and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday.
There were growing signs of American frustration with aspects of Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas today, as President Biden “stressed that much more assistance was urgently required” for Gaza in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meantime, today warned that Israel should take additional measures to avoid civilian casualties as it expands its war against Hamas in southern Gaza.
“There does remain a gap between…the intent to protect civilians…and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground,” Blinken told journalists at a press availability with new British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at the State Department this afternoon (Dec. 7).
“Not only having the safe areas, but making sure the communications are such that people know where they can go, when they can go there safely, making very clear when the periods of being able to move from one to another are in place,” Blinken said of proposed additional measures Israel could take to improve the efforts.
“Making sure those pauses apply not just to one neighborhood, but to a broader area, so that….people have confidence to know that they can move out of harm’s way and move safely,” he said.
Blinken told Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in a phone call this morning that more needs to be done to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza, a senior State Department official said. Blinken also told Dermer that the Israeli government must do more to protect civilians.
The fact that the State Department decided to publicize that alleged message was perhaps more demonstrative of growing U.S. frustration as whatever was actually discussed in the call. Sources have described recent US Israel consultations requiring multiple conversations by multiple top officials followed by sometimes more than one presidential phone call to get implemented decisions thought to have been agreed, and then sometimes having to do it all again.
Public signs of that emerged in the White House readout of the call between Biden and Netanyahu today.
“The President underscored the importance of the continuous and sustained flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the readout said.
“He welcomed the Israeli decision to ensure that fuel levels will meet requisite needs, but stressed that much more assistance was urgently required across the board,” it continued, emphasis added.
“The President emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostility,” the readout said, echoing some of the points Blinken later gave.
UN statistics indicate that the aid entering Gaza has fallen to levels well below those before a seven day humanitarian pause collapsed last Friday.
Only 80 trucks of humanitarian assistance and 69,000 liters of fuel entered into Gaza from Egypt on Wednesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today. “This is well below the daily average of 170 trucks and 110,000 liters of fuel that had entered during the humanitarian pause” that lasted for seven days before collapsing last Friday, OCHA said.
“The ability of the UN to receive incoming loads of aid has been significantly impaired over the past few,” the agency said. Among the factors why, it said: “a shortage of trucks within Gaza…; telecommunications blackouts; and the increasing number of staff who were unable to report to the Rafah crossing due to the hostilities.”
US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said the high levels of security assistance that the United States is providing to Israel gives the United State the responsibility to press Israel on how it conducts the war.
“The United States provides extensive security assistance to the Government of Israel, that security assistance is being used in this conflict, which is… part of why we believe we have a particular responsibility…to work with them on conducting this war in ways that are consistent with their national law, consistent with our values,” Finer told the Aspen Institute Security Forum this afternoon.
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A gap??? hahahaha So saith the man who removed the Kahanists off the terror list last year