Blinken urges Israel to ‘do more to protect Palestinian civilians’ after talks with Netanyahu: Secretary of State calls for ‘humanitarian pause’ on attacks in Gaza – while Bibi rejects calls for temporary ceasefire

Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a public appeal Friday to protect Palestinian civilians during a critical visit to Israel and increased calls for “humanitarian pauses” on attacks on Gaza to get hostages out and aid in.

Speaking in Tel Aviv after meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken said he raised the issue of humanitarian breaks.

He said the two discussed how to ensure Hamas does not use such pauses “to its own advantage” and “how the pause could be linked to the release of hostages.”

His comments came as Israeli Defense Minister Gallant reportedly did told Israel would not agree to a pause that did not include the release of hostages.

The head of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah also broke his silence to warn of “further escalation on the Lebanese front” and called the October 7 attack a “glorious jihad operation.”

“We must do more to protect Palestinian civilians,” Blinken said. He called it the right and lawful thing to do. “Failure to do so plays into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist groups,” Blinken said.

He also called for the speeding up of aid supplies to Gaza to help people who are in “desperate need” through “no fault of their own.” That’s as the Israeli military and its government have faced increasing calls, including from Senate Democrats, to exercise restraint in unleashing devastating airstrikes on Gaza in what they say is an effort to eliminate Hamas’s power structure .

Without consideration for civilians, there will be “no partners for peace later,” he warned, resuming his call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Blinken’s words of warning came during a press event where he also recalled the massacre of 1,400 Israelis following the Hamas terror attack.

‘The brutality of the slaughter has disappeared so quickly in the memories of so many. But not in Israel and not in America,” he said.

Blinken said that during his visit he was shown additional videos, from security cameras and even videos taken by Hamas attackers, showing some of the brutality inflicted on Israeli civilians during the attack. During his first visit to Israel after the October 7 attack, Blinken had an emotional meeting with survivors of the attack and friends and relatives of victims.

Blinken met again with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu (R) in Tel Aviv

Blinken also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog during his visit

Blinken says he and Netanyahu discussed the need to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip

Blinken repeatedly invoked the use of “humanitarian pauses” in the effort to return American and other Israeli and foreign nationals seized by Hamas.

“A humanitarian pause could help this effort,” he said.

“This is a very important piece,” he said.

Blinken again defended Israel’s “right and even obligation” to defend itself. But he repeatedly pointed out the “imperative” to “do everything possible to protect civilians.”

It comes after two repeated attacks by the Israeli army on the Jabalya refugee camp.

He also calls for Israeli settlers to rule by force in the West Bank, which is controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

He said he heard a “clear commitment” to tackling extremist behavior in the West Bank.

And Blinken echoed President Biden’s warnings against anyone seeking to expand the conflict amid fears that Hezbollah would open a second front with Israel amid repeated rocket attacks with Israeli forces.

“We are determined that there will not be a second or third front opened in this conflict,” Blinken said, noting that the US had deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups to the region.

It came on a day when Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, made his first comments since the attack amid fears Israel could face an extended war.

He said the battle between Israel and Hamas had “expanded to more than one front” and called the brutal attack inside Israel a “war attack” ‘glorious jihadist operation.’

Blinken used personal and emotional language about citizens after Netanyahu addressed the nation this week, invoking the Old Testament and calling it a “time for war.” It came at the end of a week when US forces in the region came under sustained fire, and when Biden was heckled in Minnesota by a rabbi calling for a ceasefire.

“We must do more to protect Palestinian civilians. We have made it clear that as Israel wages its campaign to defeat Hamas, how it does so matters. It is important because it is the right and legal thing to do. It matters because failure to do so plays into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist groups,” Blinken said.

“There will be no partners in peace if they are consumed by a humanitarian catastrophe and alienated by any perceived indifference to their plight. This is what unites us as human beings. I have seen images of Palestinian children, young boys and girls being rescued from the rubble of buildings. When I see that, when I look into their eyes through the TV screen, I see my own children.’