Speaking at the U.S state department in an end-of-year press conference on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, U.S Secretary of State, Antony Blinken disclosed the “core priorities” guiding Washington’s response to the war.
These priorities, Blinken said, includes helping Israel “ensure what happened on October 7 can never happen again,” bringing the conflict to an end as quickly as possible while minimising the loss of life and the suffering of civilians and negotiating the return of hostages remaining in Gaza.
He also listed “preventing the conflict from spreading” as well as “breaking the devastating cycle of violence and moving toward durable, lasting peace” among the priorities.
“We continue to believe that Israel does not have to choose between removing the threat of Hamas and minimizing the toll on civilians in Gaza,” Blinken said.
He stressed, “It has an obligation to do both and it has a strategic interest to do both.”
Blinken was asked about the continuing delay on a resolution vote, which has come amid US opposition to the original text.
While offering few details, Blinken noted that the U.S wants to make sure a resolution does not make aid delivery more complicated.
Washington wants to “make sure that the resolution … in what it calls for and requires actually advances that effort and doesn’t do anything that could actually hurt the delivery of humanitarian assistance, make it more complicated,” he said, describing US officials as working “intensely” on the negotiations.
It was not immediately clear what portion of the draft resolution he was referring to. The resolution put forth by the UAE calls for an increase in aid, as well as a “monitoring mechanism” to assure unhindered access.
An initial draft of the resolution also called for a “cessation” of hostilities, which was later changed to a “suspension” of hostilities.
We continue to engage extensively and constructively with a number of countries to try to resolve some of the outstanding issues in this security council resolution.
Antony Blinken
Blinken said that the U.S shared the aim underlying the UAE resolution, to get more aid into the besieged enclave.
Blinken Says Israeli Operations Need To Enter ‘Lower Intensity Phase’
Blinken faced several questions related to the Israel-Gaza war during the press conference.
When asked about the ever-growing Gaza casualty count, he remarked that it is “clear that the conflict will move and needs to move to a lower intensity phase.
“We expect to see and want to see a shift to more targeted [Israeli] operations with a smaller number of forces that’s really focused in on dealing with the leadership of Hamas, the tunnel network and a few other critical things. And as that happens, I think you’ll see as well, the harm done to civilians also decrease significantly.”
Antony Blinken
“We’ve said all along – and we have these conversations almost every day – that it is vitally important Israel conduct operations with a focus on protecting civilians, minimizing harm to them, maximizing assistance getting to them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Government Media Office announced that the death toll in the enclave has risen to 20,000.
That includes 8,000 children and 6,200 women, the Gaza Government Media Office added.
The top diplomat also asserted that U.S leadership is still wanted in the Middle East, despite widespread criticism of the US response to the war.
“What I have seen from day one is that countries throughout the region, as well as countries around the world, want to work with us and are looking for American leadership in this crisis,” he said.
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