Blinken warns Israel that more needs to be done to protect civilians in Gaza

Washington, DC [US], December 10 : US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken on Sunday warned Israel that more needs to be done to protect civilians and provide humanitarian aid to people in the region, CNN reported.
"The intent is there, but the results are not always manifesting themselves," Blinken said.
"Even as Israel has taken additional steps, for example, to designate safe areas in the south, to focus on neighborhoods, not entire cities in terms of evacuating. What we're not seeing sufficiently is a couple of things. One, making sure that the humanitarian operators who are there -- starting with the United Nations performing heroically -- that there are deconfliction times, places and routes so that the humanitarians can bring the assistance that's getting into Gaza to the people who need it," Blinken continued.
He added that there needs to be more deconfliction times, pauses and designated routes: "plural, not just one." The secretary of state also emphasized the need for "clarity of communication, so that people know when it is safe and where it is safe to move to get out of harm's way before they go back home. These are the kinds of things we're working on every single day again to make sure that that gap between intent and result is as narrow as possible."
CNN reported that Blinken didn't comment on how much time the Israeli operations will last in Gaza but said there have been discussions with Israel.
"Israel has to make these decisions," Blinken said. "Of course everyone wants to see this campaign come to a close as quickly as possible."
Blinken then noted that whenever the military operation concludes, it will be just one step in terms of reaching a sustainable peace.
"When the major military operation is over. This is not over. Because we have to have a durable, sustainable peace. And we have to make sure that we're on the path to a durable sustainable peace," Blinken said.
CNN reported that Blinken also condemned the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas during the horrific October 7 attack, lambasting those who have not forcefully condemned it or were slow to do so.
"The atrocities that we saw on October 7 are almost beyond human description or beyond our capacity to digest and we've talked about them before, but the sexual violence that we saw on October 7 is beyond anything that that I've seen either," he said.
When asked about the emergency aid package for Ukraine and Israel that stuck in the mid due to congress disagreements between Republicans and Democrats, Blinken urged leaders to pass the aid and said that he's "very concerned".
"I think the only people who would be happy if the supplemental budget request is not voted on and approved by Congress are sitting in Moscow, sitting in Tehran, sitting in Beijing. For Ukraine, this is absolutely vital," Blinken said, CNN reported.