Blinken in Israel pushes for protection of civilians in Gaza, West Bank

U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken on Friday said Israel must protect civilians in its bombardment of Gaza, as he returned for more talks with Israel's leaders while the country's armed forces press a ground offensive in the Hamas-controlled strip.

Blinken is in the region for the second time in less than a month as Washington has sought to balance support for Israel over the deadly Oct. 7 attacks from Palestinian Hamas militants with efforts to reduce the toll of the war on civilians.

Ahead of a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Blinken reiterated that Israel has a right to "do everything possible to ensure that this Oct. 7 [attack] can never happen again."

"At the same time, let's just make clear: how Israel does this matters," he said. "It is very important when it comes to protection of civilians who are caught in the crossfire of Hamas's making, that everything be done to protect them and to bring assistance to those who so desperately need it, who are not in any way responsible for what happened on Oct. 7."

Washington has dismissed calls from Arab and several other nations for a full ceasefire, but wants more temporary and localized pauses in fighting to allow aid to get into the besieged Gaza Strip and hostages out. Blinken said highly technical discussions have taken place on various scenarios to try and ensure Hamas would not take advantage of such pauses.

In addition to Herzog, Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of Israel's emergency cabinet.

Herzog said Israel was going to great lengths to notify residents of airstrikes, holding up one of the pamphlets that he said Israel has dropped telling civilians to leave northern Gaza.

Israel has bombarded Gaza with airstrikes and then a limited ground offensive after Hamas killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including Canadian citizens, and took more than 240 hostages in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Families of some of the more than 240 people taken hostage by Hamas gathered outside the military complex in Tel Aviv where Blinken was meeting with Israel's leaders. They called for there to be no ceasefire until Hamas releases all hostages.

Hamas-run health authorities say at least 9,227 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by militants on southern Israel. The Gaza Health Ministry says it tallies figures from reports from hospital directors, though Western intelligence agencies have disputed some death tolls.

Over a third of Gaza's 35 hospitals are not functioning, with many turned into impromptu refugee camps.

"The situation is beyond catastrophic," said the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, describing packed corridors and many medics who were themselves bereaved and homeless.

The mounting calls have intensified calls by some global leaders for a pause or ceasefire.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday delivered some of the strongest criticism of Israel by a leader seen so far from a European Union member.