Following his most recent trip to Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that the Israelis should work with the United Nations to ensure humanitarian aid could reach civilians in Gaza, The Hill reported.
In her exclusive January 10 interview with the Secretary of State on MSNBC, host Andrea Mitchell demanded to know why humanitarian aid is still not making it into Gaza four months after the war began.
Appearing to place the blame on Israel, Blinken said it was “imperative” for the Israelis to work with the United Nations to ensure that more humanitarian assistance reaches the civilians who need it. Describing the United Nations as “the only game in town,” Blinken praised the UN’s efforts to get aid to the people who need it and said Israel must cooperate with the United Nations since there is “no alternative.”
Blinken claimed that if the United Nations was not providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, “it would be Israel’s responsibility to do it.”
The secretary said that during his recent visit “real progress” was made to ensure humanitarian assistance got to Gaza. When Andrea Mitchell noted that there were “still bottlenecks” in getting the aid into the territory, Blinken said they were “working through all of them” by trying to get additional entry points opened. He said once more assistance arrives in Gaza, there would be much better coordination so the aid can “move around” and the UN can deliver it to where it would need to go while ensuring that it is safe to do it.
In his recent trip to the Middle East, Blinken continued to press for a so-called two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
In a joint press conference on January 7 with the Prime Minister of Qatar, Blinken said the US rejected calls from some Israeli officials for the Palestinians in Gaza to be resettled elsewhere and reiterated that the US position was that the Palestinians must be allowed to remain in Gaza.
