United States (U.S.) Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip would allow Hamas to regroup and repeat what happened on October 7th, thus refusing to join calls by many for a ceasefire in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.
“A ceasefire now will simply leave Hamas where it is, enable it to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7th,” Blinken said at a joint news conference held in Amman, Jordan with his Jordanian and Egyptian counterparts after meeting with leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.
He added that “it is important to reaffirm Israel’s right to defend itself and its obligation to do so, and to take the necessary steps so that October 7th never happens again.”
“But what’s also important is how Israel does it, and that’s what we’ve been talking about with the Israeli government,” Blinken emphasized.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jordan Ayman Safadi called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where 9.488 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks.
“How can we justify to anyone the killing of more than 9.000 people, including 4.000 children, in the name of Israel’s self-defense?” he asked and added:
“We demand a ceasefire and refuse to call what is happening (in Gaza) self-defense. What is happening cannot be justified, it will not bring security to Israel.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Sameh Shoukry said after the meeting that they “demand an international investigation into the ‘blatant’ actions seen in the Gaza war.”
9.488 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7th.
“3.900 children and 2.509 women are among the victims, while 24.000 people were injured,” Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said at a press conference in Gaza City.
He added that “70 percent of the victims of aggression are children, women, and the elderly.”
Moreover, he stated that since “the beginning of the aggression on Gaza, the ministry has received reports of 2.200 missing under the rubble, including 1.250 children.”
This week, the Israeli military expanded its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, which has been under relentless airstrikes since Hamas’s surprise offensive on October 7th.
