US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced that President Joe Biden is set to pay a solidarity visit to Israel, soon after revealing that Tel Aviv agreed to devise a plan for providing humanitarian aid to Gaza’s civilians.
During the visit, the top US diplomat said Biden will discuss plans to reduce the number of civilian deaths during wartime, amid a rising humanitarian crisis, while preventing Hamas from benefiting.
Today, at our request, the United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza, including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 17, 2023
Blinken announced his decision for the aid plan after 9 hours of negotiations with Netanyahu, which lasted until early Tuesday, after their meeting was disrupted by air raid sirens warning of incoming Palestinian rocket fire, forcing them to temporarily shelter in a bunker.
Blinken, on his fifth day of round-the-clock diplomacy in the region, returned to Israel after visiting six Arab countries in four days to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israeli bombardment has martyred over 2,800 Palestinians and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
“Today, and at our request, the United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organisations to reach civilians in Gaza,” Blinken told reporters.
Blinken said the US shared Israel’s “concern” that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza, or prevent it from reaching people in need, Reuters reported.
“If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it. And we will work to prevent it from happening again,” Blinken said.
Blinken did not provide details on what the aid plan would look like.
