US wants extended pauses in fighting in Gaza, Blinken says

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today called for Israel to do more to get relief to Gaza, including holding extended pauses of fighting, after Washington defied humanitarian groups to conclude Israel was not blocking aid, Reuters reported.

After a 30-day US deadline for Israel to take steps to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza expired yesterday, the State Department concluded that Israel was not blocking aid and therefore not violating US law.

Eight international aid groups said Israel had failed to meet the US demands to improve access for assistance, while food security experts have said it is likely that famine is imminent in parts of Gaza.

Blinken, speaking to reporters in Brussels, said today that Israel had taken some steps to improve aid but they needed to be sustained to take effect.

Addressing areas where Israel had yet to meet US demands, Blinken said Israel should rescind evacuation orders to allow those displaced by its operations to return home, and resume commercial trucking deliveries into Gaza.

“In my judgement maybe most significant, we need to see real and extended pauses in large areas of Gaza… so that the assistance can effectively get to people who need it,” he said.

President Joe Biden, whose term ends in January and who will be replaced by his predecessor Donald Trump, has backed Israel in its genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023.

Since then, more than 43,500 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza, with 2.2 million displaced people and much of the Strip reduced to rubble.

Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has strongly backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and promised to bring peace to the Middle East, but has not said how he would accomplish that.

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