Blinken says 'far too many Palestinians have been killed’ in Gaza

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized on Friday the urgent need to protect civilians in the Gaza conflict, saying "far too many Palestinians have been killed" amid the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave.

"Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks. And we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets to them," Blinken told reporters on the sidelines of the "2+2 Dialogue" meeting in New Delhi, India.

Blinken also said that "much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them."

Noting his conversations with the Israeli government about steps that can be taken to advance each of these objectives, he said among those steps were "humanitarian pauses."

"We appreciate the fact that, yesterday, Israel announced four-hour pauses with three-hour notice in specific areas, as well as two humanitarian corridors that will allow people to move more safely and freely to get out of harm’s way and also to access assistance," he said.

These steps, according to Blinken, will save lives and will enable more assistance to get to Palestinians in need.

On Thursday, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby announced that Israel agreed to institute four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip.

The brief hiatuses will allow humanitarian assistance to be moved into the areas where they are implemented and will allow Palestinians "to get out of harm's way," according to Kirby.

According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,506 children and 3,027 women, since Oct. 7 when the conflict began following a cross-border attack by Hamas that killed in excess of 1,600 in Israel.