Blinken urges Israel to create safe zones in Gaza when fighting resumes
- The US Secretary of State says Israel ‘must put in place humanitarian civilian protection plans that minimise further casualties of innocent Palestinians’
- Blinken, who was on his third trip to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack, also called for a further extension of the truce deal.
Visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged Israel to create safe zones for Palestinian civilians in Gaza before it resumes “major military operations” in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Speaking on the seventh day of a pause in fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, Blinken also called for a further extension of the truce which included hostage and prisoner swaps and aid deliveries into the besieged Gaza Strip.
“Clearly, we want to see this process continue to move forward,” he told reporters in Tel Aviv at the end of a visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank.
“We want an eighth day and beyond,” he said.
The pause, due to expire early on Friday unless an agreement to extend it is reached, has allowed the release of scores of Israeli and foreign hostages taken by Hamas in its deadly raid on southern Israel in return for Palestinian prisoners.