Blinken urges Israel to use opportunity to end war in Gaza

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel on Wednesday to use the opportunity to end the war in Gaza created by the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the destruction of much of the group's capacity during more than a year of conflict.

Blinken said Israel had succeeded in ensuring there could be no repeat of the Oct. 7, 2023 assault that triggered its campaign in Gaza and it should be looking to bring home the remaining 101 Israeli and foreign hostages and end the fighting.

"Now is the time to turn those successes into an enduring strategic success," he told reporters as he prepared to leave for Riyadh on the next stage of his visit to the Middle East.

"The focus needs to be on getting the hostages home, ending this war and having a clear plan for what follows," he said.

Israel's campaign has devastated Gaza and forced most of the enclave's population out of their homes into temporary shelters. Blinken said Israel needed to do more to ensure that adequate humanitarian supplies reached people living in dire conditions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has not formulated any clear vision for Gaza following the war beyond stating that Palestinian militant group Hamas' military and governing capacity needed to be dismantled completely.

There has been wide concern among Palestinians that Israel intends to force Palestinians from large stretches of the Gaza Strip to enable greater Israeli control of the area and potentially allow Jewish settlers to return following their withdrawal in 2005.

Blinken repeated that the United States rejected any Israeli occupation of Gaza and said he had been assured by Netanyahu that Israel had no such plans, despite pressure from many in his own party to allow settlers to return.

"It's been U.S. policy, it will remain U.S. policy, and it's also, to the best of my understanding, the policy of the Israeli government, that I heard from the prime minister, who is the authoritative word on these things," he said.



(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, writing James Mackenzie, editing by Andrew Heavens and Ros Russell)