WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday that the Jewish state must not resume operations against the Hamas terror group until its forces have a clear plan in place to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.
“I made clear that before Israel resumed major military operations, it must put in place humanitarian civilian protection plans that minimize further casualties of innocent Palestinians,” said Blinken, making his fourth trip to Israel since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed an estimated 1,200 people.
“That means taking more effective steps to protect the lives of civilians, including by clearly and precisely designating areas in places in southern and central Gaza where they can be safe and out of the line of fire.”
Hamas’ war-crime tactics of operating from civilian buildings — including hospitals and schools — has made safeguarding innocent lives incredibly challenging for Israel, Israel Defense Forces officials have told The Post.
Thousands of Palestinians have died in the conflict before a truce took effect Nov. 24.
The secretary and prime minister spoke shortly after Israel announced it had reached an agreement with Hamas to extend their ceasefire in exchange for the release of additional hostages, which Blinken called “a good thing” in remarks to the press on Thursday.
“I know that for Israel, for the United States, for a number of other countries around the world who have their citizens being held hostage by Hamas, we want every hostage to come home,” he said.
“And so we look to see if this can continue.”
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While the Biden administration had started strong in its support of Israel’s intention to wipe out Hamas, its messaging has softened in recent weeks following protests from left-wing and anti-Israel groups.
While Blinken told Netanyahu that the US will continue to support the Jewish state in its eventual return to fighting, he said such assistance is given on condition of its “compliance with international humanitarian law.”
Still, America’s top diplomat reiterated that since the beginning of the war, the US has held that “Israel has the right to do everything it can to ensure that slaughter Hamas carried out on Oct. 7 can never be repeated.”
“Hamas cannot remain in control of Gaza,” Blinken told reporters after their meeting.
“They cannot retain the capacity to repeat that carnage.”
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Since the pause in fighting began, Israel has been under increasing international pressure not to renew its offensive after the agreement comes to a close.
But Netanyahu on Thursday reiterated to Blinken that his country intends to eliminate Hamas — one of its two goals of its war.
“We are going to fight Hamas till we prevail, no matter how long it takes,” the prime minister said Thursday.
“It’s a just war. It’s a war to end Hamas, the ISIS of Gaza. And it’s a war to bring the hostages back home — as long as it takes.”
The other goal — returning all of the approximately 240 hostages held by jihadist groups — is slowly underway during the truce, with Hamas agreeing to release at least 10 each day.
Israel-Hamas war: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early-morning ambush Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce, “We are at war,” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
The Gaza Health Ministry — which is controlled by Hamas — reported at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured since the war began.
As of Thursday, 104 hostages had been sent home as another 143 are still being held in Gaza.
Following his talks with Netanyahu, Blinken traveled to the West Bank to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the territory’s Palestinian Authority, which also controlled Gaza until Hamas seized control in 2006.
Blinken has been clear that he believes the best possible outcome for Gaza following the conflict would be for the Palestinian Authority to return to power there, as “we can’t have … Israel running or controlling” the region where roughly 2 million Palestinians live, he said earlier this month.
In both his Israeli and Palestinian meetings, the secretary said he “discussed our continued focus on preventing the conflict from spreading, whether to the West Bank, to Israel’s northern border, or to the broader region.”
“I raised our deep concerns about steps that could escalate tensions in the West Bank, including extremist violence, and proposals from parts of the Israeli coalition government to further expand settlements,” he said.
“I made clear expectations about addressing these issues.”
He further said that “breaking out of the cycle of violence” between Israel and the Arab world will require further engagement with both sides to “discuss practical steps to make real a just and lasting peace.”
“We have no illusions – this isn’t going to be easy. We will surely have disagreements,” he said. “If we’re going to move forward on practical steps toward lasting peace [and] security, we have to be willing to work through these disagreements.
“Because the alternative – more terrorist attacks, more violence, more innocent suffering — is unacceptable.”
