US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on Israel to take "urgent" action to end settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Blinken, who is in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific summit, made the call in a telephone conversation with Benny Gantz, an opposition leader who has joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military cabinet.
Blinken "underscored the urgent need for positive steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, including by countering rising levels of extremist settler violence," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. Blinken and Gantz "discussed efforts to increase and accelerate the transit of critical humanitarian aid into Gaza," Miller said.
Blinken also spoke with Gantz about continuing diplomacy to free the hostages taken by Hamas militants when they launched a major attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7.
According to Israeli officials, about 240 people were taken hostage during the Hamas attacks, which killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Since then, Hamas government officials say Israeli bombing and ground offensives have killed more than 11,500 people, mostly civilians, including thousands of children.
Unlike the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, the West Bank is largely under Israeli occupation with limited autonomy from the Palestinian Authority, whose leaders are enemies of Hamas. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank say they have been subjected to increased harassment by Israeli settlers since the start of the war.
Gantz, a retired centrist general, agreed to join the military cabinet with Netanyahu, who returned to power in a coalition with far-right parties that staunchly support Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The United States supported Israel's right to respond to Hamas, but also called for more efforts to spare civilians.
"We have seen too many Palestinian civilians killed, and we have been insisting all along that Israel do everything possible to minimize civilian casualties," Blinken told NBC News. /BGNES
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