Washington: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered some of the Biden administration's strongest criticism of Israel's conduct of the seven-month-long war in Gaza, saying it lacked a "credible plan" to protect some 1.4 million Palestinian civilians in Rafah. The top US diplomat also warned that Hamas has re-emerged in some parts of Gaza and an Israeli attack risks creating an insurgency by failing to kill all Hamas fighters in the southern Gaza city.
"Israel is on a trajectory potentially to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas fighters left or if it leaves a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas," Blinken said on NBC's Meet the Press. He further asserted that an assault on Rafah "risks doing terrible harm to civilians" without ending the Hamas presence there.
This came as Israel upped the military pressure on Rafah and also sent tanks into eastern Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday after a night of heavy aerial and ground bombardments, killing 19 people and wounding dozens of others, Palestinian health officials said. The death toll in Israel's military operation in Gaza has now passed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Israel should 'get out of Gaza': Blinken
The US Secretary of State further said the US believes Israeli forces should “get out of Gaza,” but also is waiting to see credible plans from Israel for security and governance in the territory after the war. He said the United States has worked with Arab countries and others for weeks on developing “credible plans for security, for governance, for rebuilding'' in Gaza, but ”we haven't seen that come from Israel. ... We need to see that, too."
Blinken also echoed for the first time publicly by a US official the findings of a new Biden administration report to Congress on Friday that said Israel's use of US-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law. The report also said wartime conditions prevented American officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
“When it comes to the use of weapons, concerns about incidents where given the totality of the damage that's been done to children, women, men, it was reasonable to assess that, in certain instances, Israel acted in ways that are not consistent with international humanitarian law,” Blinken said. He cited “the horrible loss of life of innocent civilians.”
'Israel lacks post-war plan for Gaza'
The US has already paused a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound (900 kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225 kg) bombs, over concerns that it was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on Rafah against the wishes of the US. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, interviewed on the same program, called Biden's postponing the bombs "the worst decision in the history of the US-Israeli relationship."
Blinken told CBS News that the shipment was the only US weapons package being withheld. However, that could change if Israel launches a full-scale attack on Rafah, he said, which Israel says it plans to invade to root out entrenched Hamas fighters. Israel needs to "have a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we haven't seen," he said.
Israel also has not developed a post-war plan for Gaza's security, governance and reconstruction, Blinken mentioned. "We have the same objectives as Israel. We want to make sure that Hamas cannot govern Gaza again," he said, adding the United States has been discussing with Israel "a more effective, durable way" of demilitarising Gaza and finding Hamas' leaders.
US-Israel tensions
Israel's planned invasion of Rafah has helped fuel the deepest tensions in relations between Israel and its main ally in generations. US national security advisor Jake Sullivan also held a conversation with his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi, raised concerns about a military ground operation in Rafah and discussed “alternative courses of action" that would ensure Hamas is defeated “everywhere in Gaza,” according to a White House summary of the conversation.
US and UN officials say Israeli restrictions on food shipments since October 7 have brought on full-fledged famine in northern Gaza. Tensions between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about how the war, as well as domestic tensions about US support for Israel with protests on US college campuses and many Republican lawmakers saying that Biden needs to give Israel whatever it needs.
Most of the 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah were displaced from elsewhere by fighting and Israeli bombardments that have devastated the seaside enclave. The war was triggered by the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel says 620 soldiers have been killed in the fighting in Gaza.
(with inputs from agencies)
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