Antony Blinken arrives in Israel in search of concrete steps to protect civilians in Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Friday, for a visit aimed at reducing civilian casualties in the Gaza war.

Prior to his departure, Blinken stated that he would seek concrete steps from Israel to limit the harm done to Palestinian civilians, as US President Joe Biden also called for humanitarian pauses in the fighting.

This is Blinken’s second visit to the Middle East since combat erupted on October 7 following a huge onslaught on southern Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas, which left 1,400 people dead.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, more than 9,000 individuals have died in retaliatory Israeli raids on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including more than 3,700 children.

“We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women, and children in Gaza”, Blinken said before flying for Israel.

Antony Blinken went on to say, “This is something that the United States is committed to”.

“When I see a Palestinian child — a boy, a girl — pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child in Israel or anywhere else”, Blinken continued.

“So this is something that we have an obligation to respond to, and we will”, Blinken added.

The US president has promised full backing and increased military aid to Israel for its Gaza campaign, but in an apparent shift of tone, he has also expressed empathy for Palestinian suffering which has infuriated some around the world.

“I think we need a pause”, Biden said at a campaign rally on Thursday.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, later defined what such a pause would entail.

“A humanitarian pause… is temporary, localized and focused, focused on a particular objective or objectives, humanitarian aid in, people out”, Kirby noted.

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