UPDATE - US' Blinken calls suffering of Gazans 'gut-wrenching'

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza after three months of Israeli attacks "gut-wrenching," adding that "there has to be another way" forward that addresses Israel's concerns.

"What we're seeing every single day in Gaza is gut-wrenching, and the suffering we're seeing among innocent men, women and children breaks my heart,” Blinken said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

He described “the tragedy” in the besieged strip as "devastating" and added: "It also reinforces my conviction that there has to be and there is another way that answers Israel's most profound concerns and questions."

"Israelis have to live with security. They can't have a repeat of October 7. No country would accept the repeat of October 7," he said.

Since the beginning of the conflict on Oct. 7, US officials have stressed their solidarity with Israel in the wake of Hamas’ cross-border raid, which killed around 1,200 people, while also urging it to avoid the mistakes the US made in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

Following that raid, Israel has launched relentless military attacks on Gaza for over three months now, drawing international outrage for attacking hospitals, civilians, and schools.

During Israel’s military campaign, at least 24,448 Palestinians have been killed and 61,504 others injured. The majority of the victims were children and women.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

- No cease-fire talks between Russia, Ukraine in near term

Blinken said he does not see that any kind of negotiations for a long-term cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine in the near future, accusing Russia of being unwilling.

"In this moment, I don't see it," he said. "We're always open to it, attentive to it, because more than anyone else, the Ukrainian people want this."

"But there has to be a willingness on the part of Russia to engage to negotiate in good faith based on the basic principles that have been challenged by its aggression, territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence," he stressed.

He gave assurances that if and when Russia is prepared to negotiate on that basis, "it will find Ukrainians who want to do that, and it will certainly find support from the United States."

According to the secretary of state, Russian President Vladimir Putin "has already failed and what he set out to do, he set out to erase Ukraine from map to eliminate his independence to subsume it into Russia."

"That has failed, and it cannot and will not succeed," Blinken said, adding that over the last year, Ukraine retook more than 50% of the territory that was taken from since February 2022, when Russia launched the war.

Russia's war on Ukraine is set to enter its third year on Feb. 24.