Blinken warns of ‘grave’ humanitarian situation in Gaza

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Gaza is in a “grave” humanitarian situation following 11 days of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas.

During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Blinken told host George Stephanopoulos that reaching a ceasefire agreement was “critical” to ending the fighting.

“Well first George it was critical to get to the ceasefire, and President Biden’s focus on relentless, determined, but quiet diplomacy is what got us to where we needed to be, which is to get the violence ended as quickly as possible, to stop more human suffering and to at least put ourselves in position to make a turn to make a pivot to building something more positive, that has to start now with dealing with the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Blinken told Stephanopoulos. 

In wake of the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, @GStephanopoulos presses Sec. of State Antony Blinken on the durability of the agreement: “It was critical to get to the cease-fire…to get the violence ended as quickly as possible.” https://t.co/eQqUXaaYTC pic.twitter.com/usqqNkrGUw

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 23, 2021

In providing humanitarian aid, Blinken reiterated a notion by President Biden that money not go to Hamas, the ruling political party in the Gaza Strip, pledging instead to work with independent agencies to rebuild the territory. 

“We’ve worked in the past, and we can continue to work with trusted independent parties that can help do the reconstruction and development, not some quasi-governmental authority. And the fact of the matter is, Hamas has brought nothing but ruin onto the Palestinian people, it’s gross mismanagement of Gaza, while it’s been in charge. And of course, these indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, which have elicited the response that they did, because Israel has a right to defend itself.” Blinken told Stephanopoulos. 

On Pres. Biden’s goal to rebuild Gaza without restocking Hamas, @GStephanopoulos presses Sec. Blinken: “How do you do that? They’re in charge in Gaza.”

Sec. Blinken: “The real challenge here is to help…deliver better results for their people.” https://t.co/e1frPTdidv pic.twitter.com/QipRAQAuTY

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 23, 2021

“So I think what’s the real challenge here is to help the Palestinians and particularly to help moderate Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority, deliver better results for their people and of course, Israel has a profound role to play in that too.”