US to formally ask for ‘humanitarian pauses’ in war against Hamas
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Washington: The US will formally ask Israel to periodically pause its war against Hamas to allow for aid to be distributed in Gaza and enable hostages to be released safely.
Amid growing condemnation over the casualties caused by Israel’s bombardment, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will use his trip to the Middle East this week to urge the Netanyahu government for a series of brief, targeted breaks in its military operations.
People search through buildings that were destroyed during Israeli air raids in the southern Gaza Strip.Credit: Getty
“As we’ve said from the start, Israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself, and also to take steps to try to make sure that this never happens again,” Blinken told reporters as he boarded a plane for his trip on Thursday (Friday AEST).
“But we’ve also said very clearly and repeatedly that how Israel does this matters. We will focus as well on the steps that need to be taken to protect civilians who are in a crossfire of Hamas’ making, and we want to look at concrete steps that can be taken to better protect them.”
The Biden administration has been calling for “humanitarian pauses” for more than a week now, but the issue came under renewed spotlight on Wednesday night when a protester put the president on the spot during a campaign event in Minneapolis.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks to reporters prior boarding his aircraft to depart Washington on travel to the Middle East.Credit: AP
As Biden was giving a speech, the woman, who identified herself as Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, stood up in the audience and told Biden: “Mr President, you care about Jewish people. As a rabbi, I need you to call for a cease-fire right now.”
In turn, Biden responded: “I think we need a pause… A pause means give time to get the prisoners out. Give time.”
With the war now in its fourth week, White House officials have been at pains to point out that it is not seeking a ceasefire, which Israel and the US fear would merely benefit Hamas by giving it time to recover and replenish itself.
A humanitarian pause, on the other hand, would be “temporary, localised and focus on a particular objective,” said spokesman John Kirby – in this case, “humanitarian aid in; and people out.”
But some believe such pauses are also risky, and have hit out at the White House for sending mixed messages about where it stands.
“Even talking about it encourages Hamas to wait for those moments, to say: right, we can get more weapons in, we can get more fuel stolen, we can do all of those things,” said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served under the Trump administration.
Blinken’s trip to Israel and Jordan nonetheless underscores the delicate balancing act the administration faces amid growing public alarm at the scenes of carnage playing out in Gaza.
And within the Democratic Party, even some of Biden’s strongest supporters believe that while Hamas should be held accountable for the atrocities, entering yet another costly war could be politically damaging ahead of next year’s election.
As the airstrikes continue, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israeli soldiers have now entered Gaza City in combat with Hamas for what many believe is likely to a long and bloody ground invasion.
People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli air raids in Khan Yunis.Credit: Getty
UN experts say they “remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide” amid Israel’s assault in Gaza, which is designed to annihilate Hamas but has also resulted in thousands of civilians being killed, including children.
“We’ve seen in recent days, Palestinian civilians continuing to bear the brunt of this action,” Blinken said.
“When I see a Palestinian child, a boy or a girl, pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child, in Israel or anywhere else. So, this is something that we have an obligation to respond to – and we will.”
Blinken said his trip had three objectives: to talk to the Israeli government about the war and what could be done to protect civilians caught in the crossfire; to continue getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza and getting US citizens and foreign nationals out; and to push for a “durable and sustainable” two-state solution between Israel and Palestine after the war ends.
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More coverage of the Hamas-Israel conflict
- Cascading violence: Tremors from the Hamas attacks and Israel’s response have reached far beyond the border. But what would all-out war in the Middle East look like?
- The human cost: Hamas’ massacre in Israel has traumatised – and hardened – survivors. And in Gaza, neighbourhoods have become ghost cities.
- “Hamas metro”: Inside the labyrinthine network of underground tunnels, which the Palestinian militant group has commanded beneath war-ravaged Gaza for 16 years. The covert corridors have long provided essential channels for the movement of weapons and armed combatants.
- What is Hezbollah?: As fears of the conflict expanding beyond Israel and Hamas steadily rise, all eyes are on the militant group and political party that controls southern Lebanon and has been designated internationally as a terrorist group. How did it form and what does Iran have to do with it?
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