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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “develop a plan” to enable humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza.
“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 organizations to reach civilians in Gaza,” Blinken told reporters.
“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.
A timeline for implementing the plan was not announced. The UN has warned of a humanitarian crisis as Gaza is running out of drinking water, food, diesel and medical supplies. Since Gaza-based Hamas militants carried out terrorist attacks killing 1,300 Israeli civilians, Israel has responded with a massive bombing campaign, while enforcing a total blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed at least 2,778 Palestinians, health officials in the blockaded enclave say.
Blinken was in talks for more than six hours with Israel’s war cabinet on Monday evening, with the meeting extending beyond midnight in Israel.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “We’ve been crystal clear about the need for humanitarian aid to be able to continue to flow into Gaza. That has been a consistent call by President Biden and certainly by this entire administration.”
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