US Secretary of State Antony Blinken came to Israel on Monday after consultations in six Arab countries, trying to coordinate measures against Hamas while addressing Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe.
Blinken returned to Tel Aviv just four days after paying a quick visit to show sympathy, and he was due to meet with leaders in Jerusalem as Israel prepared for a large ground offensive in Gaza.
“I want an opportunity to share everything that I’ve heard — that I’ve learned — over the last few days visiting with our other partners and to talk about the way forward with our Israeli allies and friends,” Blinken told reporters Sunday in Cairo.
The trip comes as President Joe Biden reportedly contemplates accepting an invitation to visit Israel to display the US leader’s “unwavering solidarity.”
Israel has declared war on Hamas after the Islamist group’s fighters breached the heavily defended border and killed over 1,400 people, the majority of whom were civilians.
Israel has retaliated with indiscriminate bombing, killing around 2,750 individuals, the vast majority of whom were ordinary Palestinians, in the long-blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip.
According to US officials, Blinken heard widespread opposition to Hamas from leaders on his tour, as well as concern over the plight of Palestinians.
“I made clear that it cannot be — must not be — business as usual with Hamas going forward,” Blinken said in Cairo.
“And at the same time, as I said, we’re determined to do everything we can to address the needs of people in Gaza,” he said.
“Civilians should not have to suffer for Hamas’s atrocities.”
‘Mistake’ to reoccupy Gaza
Under US pressure, Israel restarted water deliveries to the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, after previously promising to cut off all food, water, and energy supplies to the heavily populated enclave.
The US also appointed former ambassador David Satterfield as a coordinator to drive humanitarian relief into Gaza, and he was scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday.
The Biden administration has stated that Israel has the right to retaliate, but has not called for restraint or a ceasefire.
However, it has also warned against more drastic actions, such as mass expulsions of Palestinians, which Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, a Hamas opponent located in the West Bank, fears.
Biden, in an interview aired Sunday with the CBS News show “60 Minutes,” cautioned of dangers in any bid by Israel to reoccupy Gaza.
“I think it would be a mistake,” Biden said.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Shortly after, Israel placed an air, land, and sea embargo of the territory, which was strengthened after it fell under the control of Hamas, whom Israel and the US consider a terrorist organization.
Blinken met with officials from four of the five Arab countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel: Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
He also paid visits to Saudi Arabia, which suspended its own normalization efforts with Israel following the violence, and Qatar, a US ally that maintains links with Hamas.