REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday offered some of the Biden administration’s harshest public criticism yet of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, saying Israeli tactics have meant “a terrible loss of life of innocent civilians.” However, they failed to neutralize Hamas leaders and fighters and could spark a lasting insurgency.
In two television interviews, Blinken stressed that the United States believes Israeli forces should “withdraw from Gaza” but is also awaiting credible plans from Israel for security and governance in the territory after the war.
Hamas has resurfaced in parts of the Gaza Strip, Blinken said, and a “heavy operation” by Israeli forces in the southern city of Rafah risks America’s closest Middle East ally “bearing responsibility for an ongoing insurgency.”
He said the United States had been working with Arab countries and others for weeks to develop “credible plans for security, governance and reconstruction” in Gaza, but “we have not seen these coming from Israel.”… That We have to see too.”
Blinken also said that a military operation as Israel pushes deeper into Rafah in the south could “achieve initial successes” but risked “terrible harm” to the population without solving a problem “that we both want to solve, which is security.” “Hamas cannot rule Gaza again.” More than a million Palestinians crowded into Rafah in hopes of refuge as Israel’s offensive pushed into the Gaza Strip. Israel has said the city also hosts four battalions of Hamas fighters.
Israel’s conduct of the war, Blinken said, had put the country “potentially on the path to inheriting an insurgency with a lot of armed Hamas left, or, if that remains, a vacuum of chaos, filled with anarchy and likely re-inherited by Hamas.” to be filled up.” . We talked to them about a much better way to achieve a lasting result and lasting safety.”
Blinken also reiterated — publicly for the first time by a U.S. official — the findings of a modern report from the Biden administration to Congress on Friday that said Israel’s apply of U.S.-supplied weapons in Gaza was likely against the violates international humanitarian law. The report also said that wartime conditions prevented American officials from ascertaining this with certainty during certain air strikes.
“When it comes to the use of weapons, there is concern about incidents where, given the totality of the harm inflicted on children, women and men, Israel could reasonably be expected to have acted in a manner in certain cases that does not comply with the law.” “International humanitarian law violates international humanitarian law,” Blinken said. He referred to “the terrible loss of life of innocent civilians.”
Blinken spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday and reiterated long-standing U.S. opposition to Israel’s now-increasing offensive in Rafah given the toll on civilians there, according to the State Department’s recount of the call.
Blinken called on Gallant to allow humanitarian workers to bring and distribute aid to Gaza. The Israeli offensive in Rafah closed one of the two main border crossings into the area for a week, and most operations were suspended at the other crossing after it came under attack from a Hamas rocket attack.
Seven months of fighting and Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries have already led to famine in northern Gaza. Aid groups say humanitarian operations across the Gaza Strip are on the verge of collapse due to the now almost total disruption of supplies of food, medicine and fuel, as well as disruption caused by the Rafah offensive.
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan raised concerns about a military ground operation in Rafah in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi on Sunday and discussed “alternative courses of action” that would ensure Hamas is defeated “everywhere in Gaza,” according to a summary of the conversation in the White House. Hanegbi “confirmed that Israel is taking U.S. concerns into account,” the White House said.
The war began on October 7 after a Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. About 250 people were taken hostage. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
There are increasing tensions between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the way the war was fought, and also domestic tensions over US support for Israel, with protests on US college campuses and many Republican lawmakers say Biden must give Israel everything it needs. The issue could play an essential role in the outcome of the presidential election in November.
Biden said in an interview with CNN last week that his administration would not provide weapons that Israel could apply in a major attack on Rafah.
Blinken appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
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Ellen Knickmeyer contributed.
