Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday delivered one of the Biden administration's strongest public rebukes of Israel, amid its war with Hamas in Gaza.
During a pair of television interviews, Blinken said the United States wants Israeli forces to “get out of Gaza” amid what he described as “a horrific loss of innocent civilian life.” He also said Israel's tactics in the war failed to neutralize Hamas and could create a power “vacuum” in the Palestinian territory.
Asked whether the United States is withholding high-payload bombs for America's ally Israel, Blinken said: “We believe in two things. One, you have to have a clear and credible plan to protect civilians, which we don't We have seen. Secondly, we also need to see a plan for what will happen after this conflict in Gaza ends and we have not seen it yet because what are we seeing now? We are seeing parts of Gaza that Israel has cleared of Hamas, where Hamas is coming from, even in the north, even in Khan Younis.”
He added: “If you look at Rafah, they may go in and have some initial success, but potentially at an incredibly high cost to civilians, but it may not be lasting, it may not be sustainable. And they will be left holding the bag.” in a lasting insurgency because there will be many armed Hamas left, no matter what they do in Rafah, or if they leave and leave Gaza, as we believe they must do, then there will be a vacuum and. a vacuum that will likely be filled by chaos, anarchy, and ultimately Hamas again.”
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday delivered one of the Biden administration's strongest public rebukes of Israel. (AP Photo/Jake Bacon)
The comments came during an appearance on CBS' “Face the Nation.”
Blinken also had an interview on NBC's “Meet the Press,” where he echoed, for the first time publicly by a U.S. official, the conclusions of a new Biden administration report to Congress on Friday that said the use Israel's use of US-supplied weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law.
“When it comes to the use of weapons, the concern about the incidents was given the totality of the harm that has been caused to children, women and men, it was reasonable to assess that, in certain cases, Israel acted in ways that are not consistent with” International humanitarian law,” Blinken said, condemning “the horrific loss of innocent civilian life.”
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“We treat Israel, one of our closest allies and partners, just as we would treat any other country, including when evaluating something like international humanitarian law and its compliance,” he continued.
Blinken praised President Biden's support for Israel and said “no one has done more than Biden” to help the US ally since the war broke out in October. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
During the same interview, Blinken praised President Biden's support for Israel, saying that “no one has done more than Biden,” despite the apparent change in tone.
“No one has done more to defend Israel when necessary than President Biden,” the Secretary of State said. “He was there in the days after October 7, the first president to go to Israel in the middle of a conflict when Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel. A few weeks ago, 300 projectiles, including ballistic missiles, were launched into Israel. United States The States, for the first time, participated in their act of defense, and President Biden brought together a coalition of countries that helped defend Israel.”
Blinken spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday and reiterated US opposition to the Israeli offensive in Rafah, given the number of civilian casualties there, according to the State Department's tally of the call.
The United States remains opposed to the Israeli offensive in Rafah, given the number of civilian casualties there. (AFP via Getty Images)
He said the United States continues to work with Arab and other countries for weeks to develop “credible plans for security, governance and reconstruction” in Gaza, but “we haven't seen that come from Israel.” … We need to look at that too.”
More than a million Palestinians have been forced to live in Rafah amid the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Israel has described the city as one of the last strongholds of Hamas terrorists.
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The war began on October 7 after an attack on Israel by Hamas that killed 1,200 people.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
