Blinken says Israeli operations need to enter ‘lower intensity phase’
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has completed his year-end news conference, where he faced several questions related to the Israel-Gaza war.
When asked about the ever-growing Gaza casualty count, which neared 20,000 today, he said it is “clear that the conflict will move and needs to move to a lower intensity phase.
“And we expect to see and want to see a shift to more targeted [Israeli] operations with a smaller number of forces that’s really focused in on dealing with the leadership of Hamas, the tunnel network and a few other critical things,” he said. “And as that happens, I think you’ll see as well, the harm done to civilians also decrease significantly.”
The top diplomat also argued that US leadership is still wanted in the Middle East, despite widespread criticism of the US response to the war.
“What I have seen from day one is that countries throughout the region, as well as countries around the world, want to work with us and are looking for American leadership in this crisis,” he said.
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