Blinken intensifies opposition to Gaza ceasefire in G7 Tokyo meeting
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The US Secretary of State continues to reiterate that the US does not support a ceasefire, claiming that doing so would give Palestinian Resistance Hamas the chance to regroup and attack again.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives to hold a press conference after attending a session of the Group of 7 Foreign Ministers meetings in Tokyo, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. (AP)
At a press conference after the G7 Ministerial in Tokyo, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken increased his opposition to a ceasefire in Gaza, saying “those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring.”
He continues to reiterate that the US does not support a ceasefire, claiming that doing so would give Palestinian Resistance Hamas the chance to regroup and attack again.
On Wednesday, Blinken claimed that Hamas has vowed to repeat the October 7 attack “again and again and again.”
“Israel has repeatedly told us that there is no going back to October (7) before the barbaric attacks by Hamas -- we fully agree,” he added, underlining that he has notified his G7 counterparts of his trip to the Middle East “as well as extensive engagements by President Biden and our team.”
“We all agreed humanitarian pauses would advance key objectives,” Blinken concluded.
Read next: US diplomacy disregarded on every front: Bloomberg
Contradicting statements
Two days ago, after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Blinken claimed that Washington was working "very aggressively" to ensure massive aid is entered into Gaza for its civilians.
Blinken relayed to reporters post-meeting that the US acknowledges "the deep concern" in Turkey "for the terrible toll" in Gaza, adding, "We are working, as I said, very aggressively on getting more humanitarian assistance into Gaza and we have very concrete ways of doing that," before he boarded his plane to Japan.
The US Secretary of State told reporters, "We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women, and children in Gaza," claiming that this was something the US was committed to doing.
Read more: Arab nations intensifying appeals to US for Gaza ceasefire: NYT
He even clashed with Arab leaders when he brought up the idea of "humanitarian pauses" in the aggression on Gaza, while important Arab allies of the US openly demanded an immediate ceasefire, according to Bloomberg.
