"How Israel Does This Matters!" Blinken Tells President Isaac Herzog

Washington D.C./03.11.23/Turan:    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday issued a strong solidarity message after a day of meetings with Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv, declaring, however, 'how Israel does this matters," TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Blinken is visiting Tel-Aviv to press for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into besieged Gaza, while the Israeli military said its troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City, the focus of Israel's campaign to crush the enclave's ruling Hamas group.

"We stand strongly for the proposition that Israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself and to do everything possible to make sure that this October 7th can never happen again," Blinken said addressing the media along with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

At the same time, he added, "it is very important that when it comes to the protection of civilians who are caught in a crossfire of Hamas’s making that everything be done to protect them and to bring assistance to those who so desperately need it and who are not in any way responsible for what happened on October 7th."

Blinken also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the war cabinet on Friday in Tel Aviv.

He concluded:  "So we’re working on all of that together, but we have a shared determination and that determination will not wane.  We also are thinking every single moment of our hostages – so many Israelis, Americans, other nationals – and we are determined to do everything that we can to bring them back safely, to bring them back to be with their families and loved ones"

Alex Raufoglu