By Shaun Tandon with Adel Zaannoun in Gaza City
TEL AVIV, Oct 12, 2023 (AFP) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed unwavering US support for Israel in its war on Hamas during a visit Thursday but said the Palestinians also have “legitimate aspirations” not represented by the Islamists.
Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people in Israel and took about 150 hostages in their surprise onslaught from Gaza on Saturday. Israel has retaliated by raining air and artillery strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza for six days, claiming over 1,350 lives.
Israel has prepared for a possible ground invasion of the Palestinian territory after what has been labelled Israel’s 9/11.
“You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself,” Blinken said at a joint press conference in Tel Aviv with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “But as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side.”
Israeli fighter jets and drones flew above Gaza in the relentless bombardment that has levelled entire blocks and destroyed thousands of buildings, while Hamas had now fired more than 5,000 rockets at Israel from Gaza, the army said.
Jamal al-Masry said his children were wounded when an Israeli strike hit his home in Gaza City.
“When I turned to look at my family’s house, it was in ruins, filled with martyrs and people injured,” he said, adding he would “remain steadfast” despite the destruction of “entire neighbourhoods”.
US President Joe Biden has vowed unwavering support for Israel and not called for restraint against Hamas, but Blinken hinted at the need for an eventual peace settlement — an idea that has long met resistance from the right-wing Netanyahu.
“Anyone who wants peace and justice must condemn Hamas’s reign of terror,” Blinken said.
“We know Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people, or their legitimate aspirations to live with equal measures of security, freedom, justice, opportunity and dignity.”
Netanyahu voiced appreciation for US support, which includes military aid, and said Hamas, which rules the blockaded Gaza Strip, should be treated like the Islamic State group.
“Just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed. And Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader’s account on X, formerly Twitter, said he showed Blinken “photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters”.
– ‘Cycle of violence and horror’ –
Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht said the military was readying for a potential order to launch a ground invasion in the war with Hamas: “This has not been decided yet… but we are preparing for a ground manoeuvre if it is decided.
“Right now we are focused on taking out their senior leadership,” he said.
In his first public remarks since Hamas attacked Israel, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called for an “immediate end to comprehensive aggression against the Palestinian people”.
Fears have grown for Gaza’s 2.4 million people now enduring the fifth war in 15 years in the coastal enclave, which has also seen Israel cut off water, food and power supplies.
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz vowed the siege would remain in force until the hostages are freed.
“Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electric switch will be turned on, no water tap will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home,” he said.
Gaza’s hospitals “risk turning into morgues”, said the International Committee of the Red Cross Middle East chief Fabrizio Carboni, stressing “the human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent”.
UN chief Antonio Guterres voiced concern about the “supercharged cycle of violence and horror”, and urged the release of all hostages and the lifting of the siege.
Blinken said he spoke to Netanyahu about the “humanitarian needs” of Gaza while defending the right to retaliate for Hamas attacks.
– ‘All I do is cry’ –
Israel has called up 300,000 reservists and rushed forces, tanks and heavy armour to the southern desert areas around Gaza from where Hamas launched their unprecedented attack on October 7.
Israeli soldiers have since then swept the southern towns and kibbutz communities and killed 1,500 of the militants, while making ever more shocking discoveries of large numbers of dead civilians.
“I would never have been able to imagine… something like this,” Doron Spielman, an Israeli army spokesman, said at one gated community where more than 100 residents were killed.
“It looks like… an atomic bomb just landed here.”
Israeli outrage has been further fuelled by Hamas’s capture of at least 150 hostages — mostly Israelis but also foreign and dual nationals — now being held in Gaza.
“I know he’s out there somewhere,” one of the affected Israelis, Ausa Meir, said of her brother Michael, who is among the captives. “It’s very, very painful.”
Hamas has threatened to kill hostages if Israel bombs Gaza civilian targets without advance warning — deepening the anger and fear in shell-shocked Israel.
“Everybody is impacted in Israel,” said Joana Ouisman, 38, a finance executive. “I’ve been watching TV all day for the past three to four days. All I do is cry.”
– ‘We must win’ –
Israel’s war now flaring in the south is further complicated by a threat from the north, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group based in Lebanon.
The army has massed tanks on the border after repeated clashes with Hezbollah in recent days, including cross-border rockets and shelling.
As Israel seeks to boost its military forces, flag carrier El Al said it would operate special flights to bring back reserve soldiers from overseas on the weekly Jewish day of rest.
“It’s really sad what happened. We don’t believe what Hamas did… we are going to fight back,” said one of them, Ido Malka, who flew in from Los Angeles.
The United States has sent munitions to Israel and deployed an aircraft carrier battle group to the eastern Mediterranean in a show of support, while warning Israel’s other enemies not to enter the conflict.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that Washington has “not placed any conditions” on the way Israel can use the weapons it has provided to its ally.
Israel’s arch foe Iran has long financially and militarily backed Hamas and praised its attack, but insists it was not involved.
Iran’s ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi called on Islamic and Arab countries to confront Israel and support the “oppressed Palestinian nation”, in a phone call with his Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad.
Israel also struck Syria’s two main airports, in Damascus and Aleppo, in “simultaneous” attacks on landing strips that put them out of service”, state media said, citing an unidentified military source.
Blinken heads to Qatar on Friday for talks on Hamas and, according to a source with knowledge of the visit, efforts to secure the release of hostages and de-escalate.
He will also travel to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as part of a regional tour that also takes him to Jordan.
