Blinken tells Israeli officials of 'unacceptably high' Gaza casualties
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The US secretary of state meets with the Israeli minister of strategic affairs and advisor to "national security" and expresses Washington's "serious concern about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza."
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a meeting with Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joy, on Thursday, July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday informed two senior Israeli officials about the "unacceptably high" number of civilian casualties caused by "Israel's" attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip, his spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
The Israeli occupation forces have carried out a number of attacks in the past few days, targeting UN-run schools and refugee camps where displaced people were seeking shelter.
Blinken met with Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister of strategic affairs, and Tzachi Hanegbi, the Israeli "national security" advisor, "to express our serious concern about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza."
Miller stressed that casualties "still remain unacceptably high. We continue to see far too many civilians killed in this conflict."
On Saturday, the Health Ministry in Gaza confirmed that Israeli strikes killed more than 90 Palestinians in the al-Mawasi refugee camp near Khan Younis.
"Israel" claimed that the general commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammad Deif, and his close ally Rafa Salama, who the Israeli occupation military claimed was killed, were the targets of the bombardment.
Miller said that Blinken was informed by the two Israeli officials that "they do not have certainty yet" on Deif's fate.
But a Hamas official affirmed on Sunday that Deif was "well and directly overseeing" operations, and an informed source also told Al Mayadeen that Deif is well, stressing that the Israeli allegations about his injury are baseless.
Hamas confirmed that the Israeli occupation's claims about targeting leaders are false, noting that this is not the first time the occupation has claimed to target Palestinian leaders, only for it to be proven false later.
Miller mentioned that post-war planning, humanitarian supplies for Gaza, and a truce between "Israel" and Hamas were also the topics of the bilateral talks.
A senior source in the Palestinian Resistance told Al Mayadeen that "Hamas has strongly informed mediators that negotiations will not yield any results as long as the massacres and daily atrocities continue."
It is worth noting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Washington and address the US Congress on July 24.
Read next: Netanyahu should stay home, save his breath in Congress: NYT
"We continue to hear from Israel directly that they want to reach a ceasefire and that they're committed to the proposal that they put forward," Miller claimed.
Asked about US weapons supplied to "Israel", Miller merely responded, "We are incredibly troubled by the ongoing deaths of Palestinians in Gaza."
This comes after Israeli occupation forces committed a series of gruesome massacres across several towns and neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip which were discovered on Friday, with the reported toll reaching 140 killed in Gaza City.
Occupation forces' withdrawal from the al-Shujaiya neighborhood, in eastern Gaza City, has also unraveled the scene of horrifying war crimes. As emergency workers arrived in the neighborhood, following two weeks of Israeli onslaught, more than 60 bodies of Palestinian martyrs were recovered on Friday.
The Palestinian Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip said that dozens of others' bodies are yet to be recovered as they remain stuck under the rubble caused by Israeli strikes and shelling and many residents' whereabouts are yet to be determined.
Authorities said that multiple Israeli quadcopter drones, equipped with rifles, are still swarming the city, arbitrarily hunting down Palestinians.
