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What US raised ‘directly’ with Israel amid Hamas war: ‘Laid out that…’
Israel-Hamas War: Washington wants to make sure aid reaches Gaza, Hamas should not regroup again and a passage for releasing hostages is ensured.
The US has asked Israel to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians as Israel intensified its retaliation after the terrorist group launched a surprise attack on October 7. US state department spokesperson Vedant Patel said, “We have raised directly with the Israeli Government about the need to distinguish between Hamas terrorists and Palestinian civilians. This is something that the Secretary has raised directly on his travels.”
"We even laid out that we believe that there are commitments that can be made additionally on dealing with protecting civilian life more effectively, and we're watching very closely to make sure that happens," he explained.
Clarifying US' stand on the 'humanitarian pause' in Gaza, he said that Washington wants to make sure aid reaches Gaza, Hamas should not regroup again and a passage for releasing hostages is ensured.
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“We have also been incredibly clear to Hezbollah and any other malign actors that they should not use this opportunity to widen this conflict. And when we're talking about a humanitarian pause, what we are talking about is conditions that simultaneously ensure that Hamas is not in a position in which it can regroup, restrengthen itself, position itself in a way to further conduct attacks on the Israeli people while also creating conditions that perhaps will allow for the further provision of humanitarian aid into Gaza that will perhaps allow conditions that other hostages can be released as well,” he said.
“We want conditions created that will allow for the entrance of additional humanitarian aid into Gaza. We want the conditions to be such that will allow potentially for additional hostages to be released by Hamas,” he added.
