Blinken warns Israel that more needs to be done to protect civilians as operations in southern Gaza continue

As Israel continues its operations in southern Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that more needs to be done to protect civilians and provide humanitarian aid to people in the enclave.

“The intent is there, but the results are not always manifesting themselves," Blinken told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

“Even as Israel has taken additional steps, for example, to designate safe areas in the south, to focus on neighborhoods, not entire cities in terms of evacuating. What we're not seeing sufficiently is a couple of things. One, making sure that the humanitarian operators who are there — starting with the United Nations performing heroically — that there are deconfliction times, places and routes so that the humanitarians can bring the assistance that's getting into Gaza to the people who need it," Blinken continued.

He added that there needs to be more deconfliction times, pauses and designated routes: "plural, not just one." The secretary of state also emphasized the need for "clarity of communication, so that people know when it is safe and where it is safe to move to get out of harm's way before they go back home. These are the kinds of things we're working on every single day again to make sure that that gap between intent and result is as narrow as possible.” 

Pressed by Tapper on the timeline going forward and whether Israel has told the US how long they think this current phase in operations will last, Blinken said that there has been discussions with Israel but wouldn’t provide any further details. 

“Israel has to make these decisions,” Blinken said. “Of course everyone wants to see this campaign come to a close as quickly as possible.”

Blinken then noted that whenever the military operation concludes, that it will be just one step in terms of reaching a sustainable peace. 

“When the major military operation is over. This is not over. Because we have to have a durable, sustainable peace. And we have to make sure that we're on the path to a durable sustainable peace,” Blinken said. 

Blinken also forcefully condemned the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas during the horrific October 7 attack, lambasting those who have not forcefully condemned it or were slow to do so.  

“The atrocities that we saw on October 7 are almost beyond human description or beyond our capacity to digest and we've talked about them before, but the sexual violence that we saw on October 7 is beyond anything that that I've seen either,” he said. 

On US aid to Israel: Asked about the emergency aid package for Ukraine and Israel that remains mired in Congress over disagreements between Republicans and Democrats on adding immigration provisions, Blinken urged congressional leaders to pass the aid and said that he’s “very concerned.”  

“I think the only people who would be happy if the supplemental budget request is not voted on and approved by Congress are sitting in Moscow, sitting in Tehran, sitting in Beijing. For Ukraine, this is absolutely vital,” Blinken said.