- Blinken backs Israel, seeks humanitarian pause
The News Freedom
Chandigarh, November 3
Israel won’t implement a temporary cease-fire in the war with Hamas unless all the hostages taken on October 7 are freed, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Israel also won’t allow any fuel or funds into the Gaza Strip, he said. There are at least 242 hostages being held in Gaza, around half of them citizens of nations other than Israel, Israel has said, according to the newspaper report.
“ He has told visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he rejects any temporary halt to the fight against Hamas that does not include “the release of our hostages. Israel “will not enable the entry of fuel to Gaza,” said Netanyahu, The Israel Times report said.
Earlier US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said that the Biden administration stood “in solidarity” with Israel’s right to defend itself but urged protections for Palestinian civilians in a military campaign that has battered Gaza and inflamed the Middle East, the New York Times reported. As per newspaper report, after meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv, Blinken told the reporters that the United States had been clear that “it matters” how Israel conducts its campaign to defeat Hamas.
The New York Times reports Blinken spoken about “concrete steps” to limit civilian casualties and “tangible steps” to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but did not offer details” . “We provided Israel advice that only the best of friends can offer on how to minimize civilian deaths while still achieving its objectives of finding and finishing Hamas terrorists,” Blinken said, according to The New York Times report.
A report in New York Times further said that “With Israel’s ground forces pushing closer to Gaza’s largest city and its airstrikes killing and wounding more Palestinians every day, anger is rising across the region even as Blinken tries to keep Israel’s adversaries from broadening the war. Strikes have escalated across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the armed group Hezbollah, gave an anticipated speech on Friday.