Blinken issues some of America’s sharpest public criticism of Israel’s conduct of war in Gaza

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Secretary of State Anthony Blinken issued some of the Biden administration’s most vocal public criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza on Sunday, saying Israeli tactics have resulted in “a horrific loss of innocent civilian lives,” but n have failed to neutralize Hamas leaders and fighters and could lead to a lasting insurgency. .

In two television interviews, Blinken stressed that the United States believes Israeli forces should “leave Gaza” but also expects to see credible plans from Israel for security and governance of the territory after the war.

Hamas has re-emerged in parts of Gaza, Blinken said, and that “heavy action” by Israeli forces in the southern city of Rafah risks leaving the United States’ closest ally in the Middle East “holding the bag of a lasting insurrection”.

He said the United States has worked with Arab countries and others for weeks to develop “credible security, governance and reconstruction plans” in Gaza, but “we did not see this coming.” ‘Israel’. … We need to see that too.”

Blinken also said that as Israel pushes deeper into Rafah in the south, where Israel says Hamas has four battalions and more than a million civilians have massed, a military operation could “have some initial success”, but would risk “causing terrible damage” to the population. without resolving a problem “that we both want to resolve, namely ensuring that Hamas can no longer govern Gaza.”

Israel’s conduct of the war, he said, has put the country “on the trajectory, potentially, of inheriting an insurgency with many armed Hamas members or, if it leaves, of a void filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably filled by Hamas.” . We talked to them about a much better way to achieve a lasting result, lasting security.”

Blinken also echoed for the first time publicly by a U.S. official the findings of a new Biden administration report to Congress on Friday that Israel’s use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law. The report also said wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining this with certainty in specific airstrikes.

“Regarding the use of weapons, the concerns about the incidents given the overall 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. He cited “the horrific loss of life of innocent civilians.”

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in a call Sunday with his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi, raised concerns about a ground military operation in Rafah and discussed “alternative courses of action” that would ensure the defeat of Hamas “anywhere in Gaza,” according to a White House summary of the conversation, Hanegbi “confirmed that Israel takes into account the concerns of the United States,” the White House said.

The war began on October 7 after an attack on Israel by Hamas that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Around 250 people were taken hostage. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

U.S. and U.N. officials say Israeli restrictions on food shipments since October 7 have caused a full-blown famine in northern Gaza.

Tensions between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the course of the war, as well as domestic tensions around US support for Israel with protests on US college campuses and many Republican lawmakers saying Biden must give Israel everything what he needs. This issue could play a major role in the outcome of November’s presidential election.

Biden said last week in an interview with CNN that his administration would not provide weapons that Israel could use for an all-out attack on Rafah.

Blinken has appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”