The toll of Israel’s military operations on Palestinian civilians “remains too high,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials on Wednesday.
The top US diplomat’s statement that Israel still has not taken adequate action to protect civilians comes after four months of Blinken pressing the Israeli government "on all of (his) previous visits and pretty much every day on concrete ways to strengthen civilian protection, to get more assistance to those who need it."
"Nearly 2 million people have been displaced from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are experiencing acute hunger. Most have lost someone that they love. And day after day, more people are killed," Blinken said at a news conference in Tel Aviv.
Although Blinken acknowledged that Israel had taken some important actions, he outlined in his meetings Wednesday additional “key steps” that the government must take to mitigate the civilian suffering.
Blinken noted that those steps should include opening the Erez crossing "so that assistance can flow to northern Gaza, where, as I said, hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to survive under dire conditions,” he said.
The US secretary of state also urged to "expedite the flow of humanitarian assistance from Jordan."
"And Israel must ensure that the delivery of life-saving assistance to Gaza is not blocked for any reason, by anyone,” the top US diplomat said, appearing to reference ongoing protests that have blocked the entrance of aid.