TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday stepped up calls for Israel to comply with international law and spare civilians as it wages its war against Hamas in Gaza.
On his third trip to the Middle East since the war began on Oct. 7, Blinken said the US remains committed to supporting Israel’s right to self defense. But he also said it is imperative that Israel protect civilians if it starts major military operations in southern Gaza.
His message aligns with the Biden administration’s shifting rhetoric on the war, which began as a full-throated embrace of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks but gradually tempered as the number of Palestinian civilian casualties began to rise dramatically. The death toll and scale of destruction has prompted widespread international criticism, including from members of President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party.
Meeting in Jerusalem just hours after Israel and Hamas agreed at the last minute to a third extension of a cease-fire agreement under which Israel has paused most military activity in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas, Blinken assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he could count on US support.
But he added that such support requires Israel’s “compliance with international humanitarian law,” and he “urged Israel to take every possible measure to avoid civilian harm.”
To prevent a further major increase in civilian casualties, Blinken said he “made clear the imperative before any operations go forward in southern Gaza there’ll be a clear plan in place that puts a premium on protecting civilians, as well as sustaining and building on humanitarian assistance getting to Gaza.”
He told reporters the Israeli government had “agreed to that approach” but declined to offer specifics on how Israel would follow through. However, he suggested that Netanyahu and others understood that that ”the massive levels of civilian life and displacement scale we saw in the north not be repeated in the south.”
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter in southern Gaza after fleeing their homes in the northern part of the territory due to the conflict, and US officials have been warning Israel that any offensive in southern Gaza must take into account the safety of the civilian population there.
In addition, Blinken “urged immediate steps to hold settler extremists accountable for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank” and said the US places great importance on the resumption of a peace process that would eventually lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israeli officials have pledged to the US on multiple occasions that Israeli settler violence will be punished, but the Palestinians have complained of inaction on that front. And, Netanyahu is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, having told Israelis that he is the only political leader who can prevent it.
Netanyahu’s office released a statement about the meeting with Blinken that contained no mention of settler violence or a two-state solution.
Instead, in a recorded message, Netanyahu noted that his talks with Blinken had taken place shortly after a Hamas-claimed attack in which two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on commuters at the entrance to Jerusalem, killing at least three people and wounding more than a dozen others, including two US citizens.
Netanyahu said he told Blinken, “This is the same Hamas that carried out the terrible massacre on Oct. 7, the same Hamas that tries to murder us everywhere. I told him: We swore, and I swore, to eliminate Hamas. Nothing will stop us.”
“We will continue this war until we achieve the three goals — to release all our abductees, to eliminate Hamas completely and to ensure that Gaza will never again face such a threat,” Netanyahu said.
Blinken met with Netanyahu and his war Cabinet in Jerusalem before traveling to the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and then back to Tel Aviv where he saw Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and opposition leader Yair Lapid.
In his meeting with Abbas, Blinken focused on efforts to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and condemned Jewish settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. Blinken told Abbas “he would continue to insist on full accountability for those responsible,” the State Department said.
Blinken also told Abbas that “the United States remains committed to advancing tangible steps for a Palestinian state,” it said.
Gallant, the defense minister, repeatedly referred to the fight against Hamas as “a just war” that would not end until Israel’s goals are achieved.
“We are going to fight Hamas until we prevail no matter how long it takes,” he told Blinken. “It’s a just war. It’s a war to (defeat) Hamas, the Daesh of Gaza, and it’s a war to bring the hostages back home. As long as it takes.”
Blinken said Thursday had “started off in a very terrible and negative way with another terrorist attack that took the lives of innocent Israelis in Jerusalem, a reminder of what Israel and every Israeli citizen has to face every day.”
“We condemn it and we also mourn the loss of these innocent lives as we mourn the loss of any innocent life,” he said, adding that, at the same time, the truce had been extended.
“We want every hostage to come home,” Blinken said. “We look to see if this can continue. Certainly, that would be a good thing, and it’s also allowed much more humanitarian assistance to get in to the Gazans who need it. But it’s going to be up to Hamas whether they will continue to do this.”
The top US diplomat will close out his latest Mideast tour in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, where he will discuss the Gaza situation with Arab leaders gathered in Dubai for the COP28 climate change conference.
Blinken tells Netanyahu ‘imperative’ to protect Gaza civilians
https://arab.news/cvqwh
Blinken tells Netanyahu ‘imperative’ to protect Gaza civilians
- Stresses imperative of accounting for humanitarian and civilian protection needs in southern Gaza
Parliamentary Foreign Vice-Minister Matsumoto to visit Saudi Arabia, Jordan
TOKYO: Japan’s Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Matsumoto Hisashi will visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Jordan from Jan. 11 to 15, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
During the visit, Matsumoto is scheduled to exchange views with government officials of Saudi Arabia and Jordan on bilateral relations as well as regional and international situations.
Matsumoto is scheduled to arrive in Riyadh on Jan. 12, according to the ministry.
A version of this article appeared on Arab News Japan.
Lebanon PM to visit new Damascus ruler on Saturday
- Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati will on Saturday make his first official trip to neighboring Syria since the fall of president Bashar Assad, his office told AFP
Mikati’s office said Friday the trip came at the invitation of the country’s new de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa during a phone call last week.
Syria imposed new restrictions on the entry of Lebanese citizens last week, two security sources have told AFP, following what the Lebanese army said was a border skirmish with unnamed armed Syrians.
Lebanese nationals had previously been allowed into Syria without a visa, using just their passport or ID card.
Lebanon’s eastern border is porous and known for smuggling.
Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah supported Assad with fighters during Syria’s civil war.
But the Iran-backed movement has been weakened after a war with Israel killed its long-time leader and Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus last month.
Lebanese lawmakers elected the country’s army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday, ending a vacancy of more than two years that critics blamed on Hezbollah.
For three decades under the Assad clan, Syria was the dominant power in Lebanon after intervening in its 1975-1990 civil war.
Syria eventually withdrew its troops in 2005 under international pressure after the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafic Hariri.
UN says 3 million Sudan children facing acute malnutrition
- Famine has already gripped five areas across Sudan, according to a report last month
- Sudan has endured 20 months of war between the army and the paramilitary forces
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: An estimated 3.2 million children under the age of five are expected to face acute malnutrition this year in war-torn Sudan, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“Of this number, around 772,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition,” Eva Hinds, UNICEF Sudan’s Head of Advocacy and Communication, told AFP late on Thursday.
Famine has already gripped five areas across Sudan, according to a report last month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed assessment.
Sudan has endured 20 months of war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killing tens of thousands and, according to the United Nations, uprooting 12 million in the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Confirming to AFP that 3.2 million children are currently expected to face acute malnutrition, Hinds said “the number of severely malnourished children increased from an estimated 730,000 in 2024 to over 770,000 in 2025.”
The IPC expects famine to expand to five more parts of Sudan’s western Darfur region by May — a vast area that has seen some of the conflict’s worst violence. A further 17 areas in western and central Sudan are also at risk of famine, it said.
“Without immediate, unhindered humanitarian access facilitating a significant scale-up of a multisectoral response, malnutrition is likely to increase in these areas,” Hinds warned.
Sudan’s army-aligned government strongly rejected the IPC findings, while aid agencies complain that access is blocked by bureaucratic hurdles and ongoing violence.
In October, experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council accused both sides of using “starvation tactics.”
On Tuesday the United States determined that the RSF had “committed genocide” and imposed sanctions on the paramilitary group’s leader.
Across the country, more than 24.6 million people — around half the population — face “high levels of acute food insecurity,” according to IPC, which said: “Only a ceasefire can reduce the risk of famine spreading further.”
Turkiye says France must take back its militants from Syria
- Ankara is threatening military action against Kurdish fighters in the northeast
- Turkiye considers the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as linked to its domestic nemesis
ISTANBUL: France must take back its militant nationals from Syria, Turkiye’s top diplomat said Friday, insisting Washington was its only interlocutor for developments in the northeast where Ankara is threatening military action against Kurdish fighters.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan insisted Turkiye’s only aim was to ensure “stability” in Syria after the toppling of strongman Bashar Assad.
In its sights are the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which have been working with the United States for the past decade to fight Daesh group militants.
Turkiye considers the group as linked to its domestic nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkiye and is considered a terror organization by both Turkiye and the US.
The US is currently leading talks to head off a Turkish offensive in the area.
“The US is our only counterpart... Frankly we don’t take into account countries that try to advance their own interests in Syria by hiding behind US power,” he said.
His remarks were widely understood to be a reference to France, which is part of an international coalition to prevent a militant resurgence in the area.
Asked about the possibility of a French-US troop deployment in northeast Syria, he said France’s main concern should be to take back its nationals who have been jailed there in connection with militant activity.
“If France had anything to do, it should take its own citizens, bring them to its own prisons and judge them,” he said.
Lebanese caretaker PM says country to begin disarming south Litani to ensure state presence
- Najib Mikati: ‘We are in a new phase – in this new phase, we will start with south Lebanon and south Litani’
DUBAI: Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Friday that the state will begin disarming southern Lebanon, particularly the south Litani region, to establish its presence across the country.
“We are in a new phase – in this new phase, we will start with south Lebanon and south Litani specifically in order to pull weapons so that the state can be present across Lebanese territory,” Mikati said.
