New Delhi: Condemning the civilian death toll in Gaza amid Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said far too many Palestinians have been killed and many have suffered over the last few weeks, news agency PTI reported.
Addressing a media briefing after the ‘2+2’ Ministerial Dialogue in New Delhi, Blinken said, “Far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks. And we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximise the assistance that gets to them.”
"To that end, we will be continuing to discuss with Israel concrete steps that can be taken to advance these objectives. We will continue to focus relentlessly on getting our hostages home," the US Secretary of State added.
Reiterating US efforts of extending humanitarian aid to trouble-torn Gaza, Blinken said, “We will continue to focus on expanding humanitarian assistance that gets into Gaza and reaches people in effective ways. And we will continue to focus on the steps that can be taken now to try to start to set the foundation for durable and lasting peace, which, as we have said repeatedly and believe, has to include two States for two peoples.”
India and US also came out with a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to continue coordinating with the regional partners on providing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
"Noting the horrific terrorist attacks against Israel, the ministers reiterated that India and the United States stand with Israel against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including with regard to the protection of civilians," the joint statement said.
The two countries also called for the immediate release of the remaining hostages.
It is to be noted that Israel has been carrying out military operations against Hamas after coordinated terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7.