According to Blinken, Israel still has to do more to provide humanitarian supplies to Gaza

Riyadh: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Monday that Israel still needs to do more to improve the flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip. He also said he would bring up this point with Israeli leaders during his current Middle East trip, which is his seventh visit to the area since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October.

Blinken said that reaching an elusive cease-fire deal that would free Hamas captives would be the best approach to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, when addressing the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh.

However, he said that it was imperative to remedy the situation right now.

“The most effective way to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of children, women and men, and to create space for a more just and durable solution is to get a cease-fire and the hostages out,” he said.

“But we’re also not waiting on a cease-fire to take the necessary steps to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza,” Blinken said. He said that while there had been some progress, it had not been nearly enough since President Joe Biden has been pressing Israel to take more action, as seen by his Sunday phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Over the last several weeks, there has been observable progress, such as the opening of more crossings, a rise in the amount of assistance sent to and inside Gaza, and the construction of the US maritime corridor, which is scheduled to open in the next few weeks. However, it is insufficient. More help is still needed in and around Gaza,” he said.

“Deconfliction resolution with humanitarian aid workers has to be strengthened. Deconfliction is at the core of our need to achieve higher safety and efficiency. Lastly, we must ensure that effect is our primary emphasis rather than merely input.”

Numerous humanitarian workers have lost their lives since the war started, and last month’s tragic Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza has only served to emphasize the risks and challenges of providing for them. Israel has penalized the responsible authorities and said the attack was an error.

After a four-week break, World Central Kitchen said it will start operating again in Gaza on Monday.

Since Hamas launched its murderous strikes on Israel on October 7, the conflict has continued with no sign of relief in sight. More than 34,000 Palestinians have died, hundreds of thousands more have been displaced, and the humanitarian situation in Gaza is becoming worse.

Global mass demonstrations sparked by the war have extended to American college campuses. The administration is well aware that the criticism of US assistance for Israel, especially in the form of weaponry exports, might cause Biden difficulties during an election year.

Blinken’s visit coincides with growing worries about the conflict escalating throughout the Middle East and with once-optimistic prospects for Israeli-Saudi reconciliation essentially on hold due to Israel’s refusal to acknowledge the establishment of a Palestinian state, which is one of the Saudis’ primary demands for normalized relations.

In the meantime, over a million Palestinians have fled to the southern Gaza city of Rafah in order to avoid fighting farther north, and the Biden administration has been cautioning Israel against conducting a large-scale military offensive there. Although Israel has not yet carried out such an attack, Netanyahu has said time and time again that it will, claiming that it is the only way to completely eradicate Hamas.

According to US officials and the White House, both subjects were covered during Sunday’s phone conversation between Biden and Netanyahu.

Blinken said that he will emphasize how crucial it is to prevent the area from being consumed by the Israel-Hamas conflict while on his tour.

This month, a suspected Israeli assault on an Iranian consulate facility in Syria spurred Iran to launch an unprecedented direct missile and drone strike on Israel, underscoring the threat of conflagration. Israel then apparently launched a retaliatory attack against Iran.

Deep worries persist that Iran or its proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, or Yemen may take actions that prompt a stronger reaction from Israel, or that Israel may take actions for which Iran feels obligated to respond, even if the tit-for-tat cycle seems to have halted for the time being.