EU countries decide on military action in Red Sea

Visiting Israel, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken strongly warned Israeli leadership to do more to protect civilians in the war against Islamist Hamas. Blinken said Wednesday after talks in Tel Aviv that the inhumanity experienced by Israel in the Hamas massacre in October “cannot be a license” to dehumanize others.

The United States has long urged Israel to strengthen civilian security and provide additional aid to the people of Gaza. “In the last four months, Israel has taken important steps to do just that.” But the daily sacrifices that military operations demand of innocent civilians are “still too great”. He said this during his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the government. He outlined several key steps Israel should take – including allowing more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

“The Israelis were dehumanized in the most brutal way on October 7,” Blinken insisted, referring to the massacre by Hamas terrorists in Israel four months earlier. The kidnapped hostages were dehumanized every day since then. “But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others.” The majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the Hamas attack in October. Families in Gaza, dependent on Israeli aid, want to live normal lives and send their children to school, just like families around the world. “We cannot and must not lose our common humanity,” Blinken warned.

On October 7, terrorists on behalf of Hamas massacred civilians in Israel. Israel has been waging war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip ever since. More than 200 people were forcibly abducted during the attack on Israel. Some of them were later released.

According to the Hamas health authority, more than 100,000 people have been killed and wounded or disappeared in the rubble since the war began. The high number of civilian casualties in the Gaza war and the humanitarian devastation the conflict has caused for Palestinian civilians have prompted strong international criticism of Israel's actions. (DPA)