The US urged Israel to exercise restraint as Washington and Saudi Arabia stepped up efforts to prevent the war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas from spiralling into a regional conflict.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken called on Israel to take steps to avoid civilian casualties at a press conference on Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose newly formed unity government is widely expected to launch a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip.
Blinken also reiterated a warning to other regional actors not to “take advantage” of the crisis to attack Israel amid concerns that a broader conflict could draw in Iranian-backed militant groups in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere.
“Israel has the right, indeed the obligation, to defend itself and to ensure that this never happens again,” said Blinken, referring to the deadly incursion Hamas mounted from Gaza at the weekend, which killed more than 1,000 people, including 27 Americans.
He added: “How Israel does this matters. We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard . . . That’s why it’s so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians.”
Netanyahu said: “Hamas is Isis and, just as Isis was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed.” He added: “There will be many difficult days ahead, but I have no doubt that the forces of civilisation will win.”
Blinken’s comments were echoed by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak. In a phone call with Netanyahu, Sunak said Britain stood “side by side with Israel in fighting terror”, but noted Hamas was “enmeshed” in Gaza’s civilian population and it was “important to take all possible measures to protect ordinary Palestinians and facilitate humanitarian aid”, according to a UK government readout.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday they had dropped 6,000 bombs on more than 3,600 targets in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.
Syrian state television also reported that Israel had struck the country’s two main airports, in the capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo. The attacks were not immediately confirmed by the Israeli military.
Israel rarely acknowledges or discusses attacks it conducts in Syria. But it has carried out hundreds of strikes inside government-controlled regions in recent years, often targeting installations it says are tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and allied militia groups.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed the conflict by phone with President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, in what Riyadh depicted as an effort to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spreading.
It was the first such contact between the Middle East’s Sunni and Shia heavyweights for years.
Prince Mohammed, whose call with Raisi came after recent efforts to normalise relations with Israel, said the kingdom “was reaching out to all international and regional sides to end the current escalation”, according to the Saudi state news agency.
Raisi said Iran and Saudi Arabia, “as two key players [in the region], should defend the Muslim and oppressed nation of Palestine at this critical time”, according to a readout by Tehran.
In a sign of the growing US concerns about Iran’s backing of Hamas, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Washington was maintaining close oversight of $6bn in Iranian funds now being administered by Qatar, and that none had yet been disbursed. “Not a dime” of the money had been accessed, he added.
Qatar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Blinken said at a press conference later on Thursday that he would travel to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Qatar to press those countries to help contain the conflict and “use their leverage with Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release the hostages”. Hamas fighters took dozens of people captive in Gaza after the incursion on Saturday.
Blinken also said he had discussed with Israel the possibility of allowing Palestinians to leave Gaza.
An Arab diplomat said Turkey, Egypt and Qatar were liaising with the Biden administration as they talk to Israel and Hamas. Doha, which hosts Hamas’s political office, is also focusing on convincing the group to release hostages, hoping that would lead to a de-escalation.
Fears the war with Hamas could spread into a second front with Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group, on Israel’s northern border are a principal concern in Washington and elsewhere.
Before departing Washington, Blinken emphasised that the US had sent “the world’s largest aircraft carrier group to the region to make very clear our intent to deter anyone contemplating any further aggression against Israel”.
In Israel, he added: “The US has Israel’s back.”
There have already been artillery exchanges across the Israel-Lebanon frontier, although both sides appear to be attempting to limit the hostilities.
Richard Hecht, a spokesperson for Israel’s military, said the country had deployed an additional division on the Lebanon border. He added that, although people were “very jumpy”, the situation in the north was “contained”.
Hecht said Israeli forces were still repelling sporadic attempts by Hamas fighters to enter Israel from the sea and were preparing for the next stage of the war. However, he added “no decision” had been taken on how it would be fought.
Israel-Hamas war
Israeli fighter jets have been bombarding targets in Gaza since Hamas launched the worst-ever attack on its territory.
The assault killed at least 1,200 civilians and soldiers, and wounded more than 3,000, according to Israeli officials.
Palestinian officials said 1,417 people had been killed by the Israeli strikes on Gaza, including 447 children and 248 women. They said 6,268 people had been wounded.
Israel has cut off supplies of water, electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza, which Israel and Egypt have subjected to a crippling blockade since Hamas took control in 2007.
Palestinian officials said on Thursday the territory’s health system had “begun to truly collapse” with intensive-care beds completely filled.
The enclave’s only power plant ceased working on Wednesday and officials said medicine supplies were set to run out “imminently”.
Israel Katz, Israel’s energy minister, posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that until hostages were returned from Gaza, “no electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter” the enclave.
The Egyptian government invited governments and organisations to send humanitarian aid for Gaza to al-Arish airport in the northern Sinai.
Cairo said the Rafah border crossing, the only entry point to Gaza that Israel does not control, was open.
Israel’s military said more than 300 of its troops had been either killed or abducted into Gaza since Saturday’s incursion.
Tensions are also rising in the occupied West Bank, where authorities say about 30 Palestinians have been killed in recent days. Blinken is due to visit the territory on Thursday, according to a senior Palestinian official.
Additional reporting by Najmeh Bozorgmehr, Andrew England and Felicia Schwartz
