Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, looks on as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives statements to the media inside The Kirya, which houses the Israeli Defence Ministry, after their meeting in Tel Aviv on Oct. 12, 2023.AFP Contributor#AFP/Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a visit to Israel on Thursday, called for the country to minimize civilian suffering as it continued to tighten its siege of the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave.
Speaking five days after deadly Hamas attacks on southern Israel, Mr. Blinken expressed his personal horror at what the militant group, which controls Gaza, had done to Israeli citizens, including children. Israel’s government has estimated that last weekend’s attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 Israelis.
Mr. Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that while the U.S. “will always be there by your side,” Israel needs to take humanitarian conditions in Gaza into account.
“We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard, even when it’s difficult,” Mr. Blinken said at a news conference in Tel Aviv. “That’s why it’s so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians.”
So far, Israel is not doing that. The country declared a “complete siege” of Gaza and its 2.3 million people on Monday, cutting off supplies of food, water and fuel to the densely populated strip of land wedged between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
Two diplomatic sources said Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mélanie Joly, was making plans to travel to Israel, as a show of support for the country. The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Other dignitaries who are expected to visit Israel include U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
While the lone border crossing between Egypt and Gaza was reportedly open on Thursday, doctors at overburdened hospitals told reporters practically no supplies were reaching them. Israel has thus far rejected calls from international aid organizations for the establishment of humanitarian corridors, saying it will only lift the siege when Hamas releases all the Israeli and foreign hostages it took to Gaza during the mayhem of Saturday’s cross-border attacks.
Israel’s military has so far informed 97 families that it believes their relatives are being held captive in Gaza, while Hamas claims to be holding as many as 150 hostages. Those numbers may include four Canadians and as many as 14 Americans still missing.
People light candles in memory of the civilians and soldiers killed, and for the hostages that were taken to the Gaza Strip, in Dizingof Square on Oct. 12, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel.Amir Levy/Getty Images
Mr. Netanyahu said Hamas should be treated the same way as the so-called Islamic State, also known as ISIS, which was largely destroyed by a U.S.-led coalition after it took over swaths of Syria and Iraq several years ago. “They should be spit out from the community of nations,” Mr. Netanyahu said as Mr. Blinken looked on. “Just as ISIS was crushed, Hamas will be crushed.”
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approved an emergency unity government on Thursday that is expected to oversee the ground invasion. Benny Gantz, a former defence minister and a key opposition figure, joined a five-member security cabinet that also includes Mr. Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Former prime minister Yair Lapid did not join the new coalition, however, saying it was still under the influence of Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which he characterized as far-right.
As Israeli troops and military equipment have continued to mass around Gaza, the only things going into the territory from Israel over the past 72 hours have been missiles and artillery shells. The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday that the death toll in Gaza over the past five days had passed 1,500. UNRWA, the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians, said 220,000 people were sheltering at the 98 schools it runs in the strip.
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“This incredibly densely populated area is under full siege and relentless bombardment by Israel. We must be enabled to bring life-saving assistance to the people of Gaza as quickly as possible,” Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a statement. “This relentless bloodshed and targeting of civilians must end,” he added, referring to the actions of both sides.
Fears of a wider conflict continued to grow as Syria – a close ally of Iran, the main backer of Hamas – said airports in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo were hit by Israeli air strikes on Thursday, knocking both out of service. The FlightRadar website showed a plane belonging to Iran’s Mahan Air, which is under U.S. sanctions because of its ties to Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard, had entered Syrian airspace shortly before the attack but turned back toward Tehran.
The Israeli military didn’t confirm or deny the Syrian claim.
Following days long shelling and clashes along the Lebanese-Israel border between Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops, U.N. peacekeepers patrol the Lebanese side of the border in the southern village of Kfar Kila, Lebanon, Oct. 12, 2023.Bilal Hussein/The Associated Press
Tensions also remained sky-high along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. In northern Israel, convoys of army trucks and supply vehicles rolled down highways and through towns near the Lebanese border to reassure residents who are worried that Iranian-backed militants associated with Hezbollah, another armed group, will launch a cross-border offensive into Israel to replicate the Hamas attacks from Gaza.
Many towns near the border have become half empty, with residents moving southward to seek greater safety after the Hamas attacks on Saturday. In some places, Israeli military units have deployed into urban areas to provide security to civilians. Several towns have already been hit by Hezbollah rockets or mortars this week, while Israel has hit back at Hezbollah with tank fire, artillery shelling and air strikes.
“If they decide to test us, they’re going to regret it,” said Captain Yehuda Joffe, one of the estimated 360,000 reservists who have been called up by the Israeli army since the Hamas attacks.
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“The civilians don’t want any escalation of the situation, and we don’t want this, but we’re very well prepared,” he added. “Me and my soldiers have high morale. Our job is to protect the northern border of Israel, and that’s what we’re going to do, if it’s tested. Obviously we’re in a bit more of a more tense time right now.”
He gestured to some children in a playground in the northern town where he was stationed. “It’s a tremendous honour to put my life on hold for two or three weeks or a month or whatever it will take to make sure that everyone here, these little kids, can live in peace,” he said.
Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, left, welcomes Secretary of State Antony Blinken upon his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 12, 2023.Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press
Mr. Blinken repeated President Joe Biden’s warning to Iran and Hezbollah not to get involved in the war between Israel and Hamas. Mr. Blinken also signalled that the U.S. could freeze the US$6-billion in Iranian funds – currently held in a Qatari bank – it had promised to release as part of a September deal to free five Americans who had been imprisoned in Iran.
After Israel, Mr. Blinken is due to visit Jordan, where he is expected to meet Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas – whose secular Fatah movement is a rival of Hamas – as well as Jordan’s King Abdullah II. On Thursday, Mr. Abbas appeared to condemn violence against civilians by both Hamas and Israel. “We reject the practices of killing civilians or abusing them on both sides because they contravene morals, religion and international law,” he said in a statement carried by the official Palestinian news service.
Mr. Blinken will also travel to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates over the next three days.
Hamas has called for anti-Israel protests to be held on Friday around the Arab world, an appeal that could create unrest in the refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan. Both are home to large settlements of Palestinian refugees, who were driven from their homes during wars in 1948 and 1967, as well as their descendants.
There are also fears that the violence could spread to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which is under the political control of Mr. Abbas’s government, and East Jerusalem, which is predominantly Palestinian but which Israel claims to have annexed. On Thursday, a Palestinian armed with an improvised machine gun opened fire on a police station near one of the gates to Jerusalem’s historic Old City. Two officers were wounded, and Israeli police said they had also shot and wounded the attacker.
Most shops and restaurants in Jerusalem have remained closed since Saturday, when Mr. Netanyahu declared that Israel was at war.
Israelis run to take cover as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets in Ashkelon, Israel.Tsafrir Abayov/The Associated Press
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