Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered one of the Biden administration's harshest public rebukes of Israel on Sunday, amid its war with Hamas in Gaza.
During two television interviews, Blinken said the United States wanted Israeli forces to “leave Gaza” amid what he described as “a horrible loss of innocent civilian lives.” He also said Israel's war tactics have failed to neutralize Hamas and could create a power “vacuum” in the Palestinian territory.
Asked about the United States refusing to provide high-payload bombs to US ally Israel, Blinken said: “We believe in two things. First, you have to have a clear and credible plan to protect civilians, which we haven't seen. Second, we also need to see a plan for what happens after the end of the conflict in Gaza. And we still haven't seen it because what are we seeing right now? We see parts of Gaza that Israel has cleared of Hamas, where Hamas is coming? including in the north, including in Khan Younis. »
He added: “If we look at Rafah, they could go there and achieve some initial success, but potentially at an incredibly high cost to civilians, but that won't be sustainable, that won't be sustainable. And they will be left with the bag. on a lasting insurgency because a large number of armed members of Hamas will remain, no matter what they do in Rafah, or if they leave and move out of Gaza, as we think they should, then there will have a void and. a void that will likely be filled by chaos, anarchy and, ultimately, Hamas again. »
US offers Israel intelligence on Hamas leaders in commitment to retain RAFAH
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered one of the Biden administration's harshest public rebukes of Israel on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jake Bacon)
The comments were made during an appearance on CBS's “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 findings of a new Biden administration report to Congress on Friday, which found that Israel had used US-supplied weapons in Gaza. probably violated international humanitarian law.
“Regarding the use of weapons, concerns about the incidents given the totality of the harm caused to children, women and men, it was reasonable to assess that in some cases Israel acted a manner that is not consistent with international humanitarian law,” Blinken said, condemning the “horrific loss of lives of innocent civilians.”
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“We treat Israel, one of our closest allies and partners, as we would treat any other country, including assessing something like international humanitarian law and its compliance with it,” he said. he continued.
Blinken praised President Biden's support for Israel – saying “no one has done more than Biden” to help America's ally since the outbreak of war in October. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
During the same interview, Blinken praised President Biden's support for Israel – saying “no one has done more than Biden” – despite the apparent change in tone.
“No one did more to defend Israel when it mattered than President Biden,” the secretary of state said. “He was there in the days after October 7, the first president to visit 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 States, for the first time, participated in its defense act, and President Biden brought together a coalition of countries that helped defend Israel.
Blinken spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday, reiterating U.S. opposition to the Israeli offensive in Rafah given the number of civilians killed there, according to the Department of Defense account of the call. 'State.
The United States remains opposed to the Israeli offensive in Rafah, given the number of civilians killed there. (AFP via Getty Images)
He said the United States continues to work with Arab countries and others for weeks to develop “credible security, governance and reconstruction plans” in Gaza, but “we did not see this coming of Israel.” … We need to see that too.”
More than a million Palestinians have been forced to live in Rafah amid the Israeli offensive across 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.