U.S Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has noted that U.S “appreciates” Israel’s steps to minimize civilian casualties but that it is not enough.
This came as diplomats and defence chiefs of India and the US met on Friday, November 10, 2023, focusing on security issues involving the Indo-Pacific, China and the Israel-Hamas war.
Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met their Indian counterparts.
Speaking in New Delhi, Blinken disclosed that the U.S has proposed additional ideas to the Israelis, including longer “humanitarian pauses” and expanding the amount of assistance getting into Gaza.
Israel’s efforts to formalise pauses in its military operations and the creation of a second safe corridor for them to use to escape harm are appreciated, he said.
On Wednesday, Blinken described the U.S’ terms for a “durable and sustainable peace” in Gaza after the war, and on Friday, he reiterated that “some progress” had been made in setting those “basic principles.”
“No forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. No use of Gaza as a platform for launching terrorism or other attacks against Israel. No diminution of the territory in Gaza and a commitment to Palestinian land governance for Gaza and the West Bank and in a unified way.”
“These and some other ideas that we’ve put forward, and that others share, I think, can start to be the basis for what we need to do.”
Antony Blinken
“We have concrete plans, concrete things that we’re working on that that would” increase the amount of trucks with humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, Blinken said.
But “it’s always a process and moving from an understanding, moving from an agreement to the implementation is what we’re working on right now,” he added.
The steps, he said “will save lives and will enable more assistance to get to Palestinians in need,” but at the same time, “much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them.”
Additionally, the U.S diplomat said that “far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks,” adding, “We want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets to them.”
“To that end, we’ll be continuing to discuss with Israel the concrete steps to be taken to advance these objectives,” Blinken said, but declined to detail the specifics of those steps.
Blinken reiterated that the U.S “will continue to focus relentlessly on getting our hostages home” and stopping the conflict from expanding.
On his part, India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said the situation in the Middle East was a big concern.
“India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders, side-by-side at peace with Israel.”
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
U.S And India Boost Ties
On Friday, Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met their Indian counterparts, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, in New Delhi for talks aimed at boosting defense ties.
Blinken on Friday said that India-US defence co-operation is “a key pillar” for bolstering the partnership of the two countries in “international peace and security, and specifically, working to promote the rules-based order and uphold the principles at the heart of the UN Charter: sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence “.
Rajnath Singh echoed, “Defense remains one of the most important pillars of our bilateral relationship.”
“In spite of various emerging geopolitical challenges, we need to keep our focus on the important and long-term issues,” he added.
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