U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes it’s “time to end the war” between Israel and Hamas, saying the Jewish state has already accomplished its “strategic goals” in Gaza.
The secretary made the comment Wednesday during a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, after being asked for a follow-up on humanitarian concerns in the region.
“Israel, by the standards it set itself, has accomplished the goals that it set for itself, the strategic goals it set for itself,” said Blinken.
“It was rightly determined to make sure to the best of its ability that Oct. 7 could never happen again. To do that, it said that it needed to dismantle the military organization of Hamas and to get the leadership that was responsible for Oct. 7. It’s done both of those things,” he continued. “So this should be a time to end the war.”
The secretary’s plea for peace comes from a weak diplomatic position after the State Department failed to follow through on enforcing humanitarian access to Gaza.
Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin filed a letter in October demanding Israel adopt 15 policy changes that would better accommodate humanitarian efforts in the region or risk losing U.S. assistance.
The Israeli government was given 30 days to make the changes — a time window that ended Tuesday without ramifications.
When asked for an update on the situation, Vedant Patel, State Department deputy spokeswoman, said Tuesday the United States has “not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of U.S. law” despite failure to comply with multiple demands.
Blinken commented on the situation during his NATO press conference, stating, “The intent [of the letter] was to inject a sense of urgency with Israel to take necessary steps to address the dire humanitarian situation of children, women, and men in Gaza.”
“The effect has been that of the 15 steps that we urged action on, Israel has taken action either in implementing or being in the process of implementing 12 of the 15 steps,” he said.
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The secretary said two developments are required for a complete Israeli withdrawal: the return of remaining hostages and a plan to ensure Hamas is not able to reclaim control of Gaza.
“But short of ending the war, which we believe now is the time to move to that, we have to see these humanitarian steps fully implemented, sustained, and as I said, particularly with regard to pauses having more extensive pauses,” Blinken said.