Secretary of State Antony Blinken strongly criticized Israel on Sunday over humanitarian concerns and the ongoing offensive in southern Gaza, adding that the Biden administration hasn’t seen a plan from Israel about how it expects to manage the region after its war with Hamas ends.
While Israel may have some “initial success” with a large-scale ground invasion of Rafah, Blinken said it would likely not be “durable” or “sustainable.”
“And they will be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency because a lot of armed Hamas will be left, no matter what they do in Rafah, or if they leave and get out of Gaza, as we believe they need to do,” Blinken said. “Then you’re going to have a vacuum and a vacuum that’s likely to be filled by chaos, by anarchy, and ultimately by Hamas again.”
Blinken appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and discussed the State Department’s report on Israel potentially violating international law during its military campaign against Hamas.
“When it comes to the use of weapons, concerns about incidents where given the totality of the damage that’s been done to children, women, men, it was reasonable to assess that, in certain instances, Israel acted in ways that are not consistent with international humanitarian law,” Blinken said.
The report found Israel noticeably increased humanitarian efforts recently and did not find reason to believe Israel is deliberately restricting the transportation of humanitarian aid. However, the report deemed the level of aid to be insufficient and criticized the high number of purported civilian casualties.
In the same interview, Blinken heaped praise on President Joe Biden for backing Israel after Hamas’s massacre of civilians on October 7 and Iran’s recent attack on Israel. The U.S. and its allies helped Israel successfully defend itself against the Iranian barrage of missiles and drones.
Biden threatened last week to continue holding up U.S. military aid to Israel after the U.S. held up bomb shipments to protest Israel’s planned full-scale invasion of Rafah. The south-Gaza city is believed to be Hamas’s last major stronghold in the territory. Republicans and some Democratic lawmakers have strongly criticized Biden for holding up the weapons deliveries to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shot back and said Israel would continue its fight against Hamas even if it has to do so alone. The Israeli war cabinet voted on Thursday to expand its Gaza offensive after Netanyahu’s remarks.
Blinken also appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation and explained that the U.S. would not be providing Israel certain weapons systems for its plans in Rafah.
“But what we’ve been clear about is that if Israel launches this major military operation to Rafah, then there’s certain systems that we’re not going to be supporting and supplying for that operation. But at present, the only thing that we’ve delayed and are holding back are these high-payload bombs,” Blinken said.
“We believe two things. One, you have to have a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we haven’t seen. Second, we also need to see a plan for what happens after this conflict in Gaza … is over. And we still haven’t seen that because what are we seeing right now? We’re seeing parts of Gaza that Israel has … cleared of Hamas, where Hamas is coming back,” he added.
Biden signed a $95 billion bipartisan foreign aid package last month, which included $26 billion in aid for Israel and humanitarian operations in Gaza.
On a call last week with Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, Blinken restated the Biden administration’s opposition to a ground invasion of Rafah and urged Israel to ensure humanitarian assistance can flow into Gaza, according to the State Department.
Israeli forces are currently fighting Hamas to recapture the northernmost area of the region and pushing through to eastern parts of Rafah with tanks and troops.
Before the Rafah offensive started, Israel warned civilians to leave the area and enter a humanitarian zone in order to receive aid. Israel quickly took control last week of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt while striking Hamas targets in eastern Rafah.