New Delhi: Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said that Gazans "must not be forcibly displaced."
He spoke during an unannounced visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, reported news agency AFP.
It was Blinken's first visit to the Palestinian territory since war erupted between Israel and the militant group following the October 7 attack that killed 1,400 people on Israeli soil, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Meanwhile in Gaza, nearly 9,800 people have died in Israel's retaliatory land, air, and sea attack, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, reported AFP.
According to a summary of the meeting released by the US State Department, "The secretary reaffirmed the United States' commitment to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and resumption of essential services in Gaza and made clear that Palestinians must not be forcibly displaced."
Abbas condemned what he labelled a "genocide" unfolding in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, AFP reported citing the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
"I have no words to describe the genocide and destruction suffered by our Palestinian people in Gaza at the hands of Israel's war machine, with no regard for the principles of international law," Abbas was quoted as saying to Blinken.
Israel has sought to destroy Gaza's Hamas rulers since the October 7 attacks, raising the question of who would run the Palestinian territory after the war.
Hamas, considered a "terrorist" group by the European Union and the United States, violently took over the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, after being blocked from exercising real power despite winning a parliamentary election the previous year.
Blinken and Abbas further "discussed efforts to restore calm and stability in the West Bank, including the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians and hold those accountable responsible", said the State Department, according to AFP.
The US "remains committed to advancing equal measures of dignity and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike," it added.