The warning was one of several issued by the top US diplomat during his meeting with the war cabinet and in separate sit-downs with top officials. At a press conference, he also publicly cautioned Israel at considerable length against allowing the same scale of death and displacement in southern Gaza once fighting shifts there from northern Gaza.
During Thursday’s war cabinet meeting, ministers reportedly pushed back on some of Blinken’s concerns regarding how Israel has prosecuted the campaign, saying that the IDF follows the laws of war and has taken steps to avoid civilian casualties.
At one point in the meeting, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant noted that the Israeli public is united behind the goal of dismantling Hamas, even if it takes months, the Israeli official said.
Blinken responded that he wasn’t sure if Israel would have the international backing to continue fighting for so long at the same intensity that was seen before the war was temporarily paused in a truce deal last Friday, according to the official. READ MORE
