Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Nov. 3 called for substantially more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In his second trip to Israel in a few weeks, Mr. Blinken said that while there have been hundreds of truckloads of aid going into Gaza over the past couple weeks, it is not enough.
“When it comes to overall humanitarian assistance, the Israeli government is committed to providing that assistance or enabling that assistance, more accurately, to get to people in Gaza,” he told reporters at a press conference following his meetings including with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
More than 370 trucks of humanitarian aid have crossed into Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah gate—despite concerns from Israel and critics that Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza, would take the assistance.
“That’s significant progress in the space of a couple of weeks, but it’s also insufficient. And there’s a recognition not only by us of that fact but also by the Israeli government as well as our Egyptian partners as well as the United Nations,” said Mr. Blinken.
He went on to say that the United States and Israel “are looking at very concrete practical ways to widen the aperture to significantly increase the assistance that’s getting in: the food, the medicine, the water, fuel, other critical needs for people who, through no fault of their own, are in desperate need.”
Mr. Blinken remarked that pauses in the fighting between Israel and Hamas would better allow aid to get into Gaza. Israel invaded Gaza last week following airstrikes in response to Hamas launching its latest round of attacks on Israel since Oct. 7—which was the deadliest single-day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.
The top U.S. diplomat also said that pauses would also allow for hostages to be released. There are at least 10 Americans among the more than 200 people being held hostage by Hamas.
Mr. Blinken’s call for pauses echoed President Joe Biden’s call on Nov. 2 for there to be a break in the fighting.
“I think we need a pause,” the president said in response to a heckler at a campaign event in Minnesota.
“A pause means give time to get the prisoners out. Give time,” he added.
“This is incredibly complicated for the Israelis,” said President Biden. “I can thoroughly understand the emotions on the Palestinian side of the argument and the Jewish side of the argument.”
Mr. Blinken stated that Israel has the right to defend itself but has the duty to prevent civilian casualties.
“We stand strongly for the proposition that Israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself and to do everything possible to make sure that this October 7th can never happen again,” he said ahead of his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, adding “how Israel does this matters.”
“And it is very important that when it comes to the protection of civilians who are caught in a crossfire of Hamas’s making that everything be done to protect them and to bring assistance to those who so desperately need it and who are not in any way responsible for what happened on Oct. 7.”
However, Mr. Netanyahu did not seem interested in any unconditional stop in Israel defending itself against Hamas.
“I have made clear that we are continuing forcefully, and that Israel refuses a temporary cease-fire that does not include the release of our hostages,” he said.
