Watch the full interview with Antony Blinken on “King Charles” at 9 p.m. ET.
Israel is taking some “important steps” to better protect civilians during its offensive in southern Gaza, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN’s “King Charles” Wednesday.
In a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with Charles Barkley and Gayle King, the top US diplomat suggested Israeli forces are heeding his call to operate differently in this phase of the war with Hamas than they did in northern Gaza.
“I said to them very clearly when I was there just a week ago, we cannot have a repeat of what happened in the north in the south in terms of harm being done to civilians,” Blinken said.
“What we’re seeing is areas clearly designated by Israel that are safe areas, where there’s not going to be firing or the military. We’ve seen efforts to make sure that people know that they need to move – and not in the entire city, but just discrete neighborhoods. So that’s positive,” Blinken described.
Still, Blinken said more needs to be done, describing the massive civilian death toll in the war-torn Gaza strip as “gut wrenching.”
He called for the establishment of “safe corridors” for civilians to move “from areas that could be in danger to places where they’ll be safe,” and stressed the need for such places to have enough food, water and medicine.
The Biden administration is engaging with the Israeli government “every single day,” Blinken said. And they are working “daily … or sometimes even hourly” to restart negotiations to get the remaining hostages held by Hamas home.
“It’s not a question of numbers. These are real people, real lives, real families whose lives have been turned upside down. I’ve got photographs of all of them,” Blinken revealed.
“It’s real for me, it’s…
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