'Will always be there': US assures Israel amid war with Hamas

As he launched a Middle East trip aimed at controlling the crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington was on Israel’s side and that he personally understood “the harrowing echoes that Hamas’ massacres carry for Israeli Jews.”

In his most direct appeal to date, Blinken asked Israel to exercise prudence in its reaction and to take all feasible measures to preserve civilian life from a podium next to the Israeli prime minister at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

As Israel launches the most intense bombing campaign in the 75-year history of its struggle with the Palestinians, pledging to obliterate Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, Washington’s top diplomat set out on a multi-nation Middle East visit.

Blinken will also work to accelerate negotiations with Israelis and Egyptians on ensuring a safe exit for civilians in Gaza from the enclave ahead of a potential Israeli ground attack. Hostages held by Hamas, some of whom are believed to be Americans, are being held prisoner.

He said that the Hamas attacks resulted in at least 25 American deaths.

“You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself. But as long as America exists, you will never ever have to. We will always be there by your side,” Blinken told Netanyahu.

Additionally, he added a touching, private aside about how his stepfather had escaped Nazi concentration camps and how his grandfather had fled pogroms in Russia.

“I understand on a personal level the harrowing echoes that Hamas’ massacres carry for Israeli Jews, indeed, for Jews everywhere,” he said.

At a subsequent news conference, Blinken said that Israeli officials had released recordings and pictures of the aftermath of the Hamas strikes, which he claimed showed young people being torched in their automobiles, a baby being “riddled with bullets,” and soldiers being beheaded.

“It’s simply depravity in the worst imaginable way.” Blinken said. “It’s really beyond anything that we can comprehend, digest.”

Blinken stated that after Israel, he will travel to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. From there, he will continue on to meet with officials in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Qatar.

Blinken’s visit also attempts to prevent Iran, which supports Hamas, from interfering in the conflict.

After hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed Israeli cities on Saturday, it was the bloodiest attack on Jewish civilians in Israeli history. Israel has pledged to exact revenge.

The region is experiencing the most dramatic surge in years.

(With agency inputs)