US Secretary of State Blinken toughens his tone towards Israel

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Antony Blinken and Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting in Jerusalem: Warning words from the US Secretary of State to Israel's Prime Minister

Photo: GPO / Amos Ben Gershom / EPA

During a visit to Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken harshly warned the Israeli leadership to do more to protect civilians in the war against the terrorist organization Hamas.

“The Israelis were dehumanized in the most cruel way on October 7th,” emphasized Blinken, referring to the massacre by Hamas terrorists in Israel four months ago. The hostages kidnapped back then have been dehumanized every day since then. "But that can't be a license to dehumanize others." The overwhelming majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the Hamas attack in October. The families in Gaza who depend on Israeli aid for their survival are like families all over the world who want to live a normal life and send their children to school.

Talks with Netanyahu

The United States has long been urging Israel to strengthen protection of the civilian population and provide more aid to the population in Gaza, he emphasized. "And over the past four months, Israel has taken important steps to do exactly that." But the daily sacrifices that the military operations exacted from the innocent civilian population are "still too high." He also said this to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the government during his talks. He also mentioned several key steps that Israel should take - including allowing more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Terrorists carried out a devastating massacre of civilians in Israel on October 7th on behalf of Hamas. Since then, Israel has been waging war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. More than 200 people were forcibly abducted during the attack on Israel. Some of them have since been released.

The high number of civilian casualties in the Israel-Gaza war and the humanitarian catastrophe for the Palestinian civilian population caused by the conflict have triggered sharp international criticism of Israel's actions.

hen/dpa