Blinken calls out other countries for not demanding Hamas surrender and ‘stop hiding behind civilians’ | CNN Politics
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called out other countries for not demanding Hamas surrender.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called out other countries for not demanding Hamas surrender.

“What is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging the end to this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying – demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that,” Blinken said during a press briefing at the State Department Wednesday.

“How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim,” Blinken went on to say.

The strong comments from Blinken come as the United Nations Security Council continues to negotiate a resolution calling for a suspension in fighting and encouraging more humanitarian aid into the beleaguered Gaza Strip, and as the United States’ support for the resolution remains unresolved.

      • mwguy@infosec.pubEnglish
        11·
        6 months ago

        In the hour after the ceasefire was declared, twelve rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel. All of them landed in open areas.[217][219] Air raid sirens sounded in Eshkol, Sderot, Hof Ashkelon, Ashdod, Kiryat Malachi and Sha’ar Hanegev. One rocket over Ashdod was intercepted by the Iron Dome.[220]

        In the section called Post-ceasefire incidents. source

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
          2·
          6 months ago

          It doesn’t say who launched these, but given their actions after that (they didn’t launch rockets and prevented other groups from launching them) those are likely not Hamas rockets.

          On the other hand, we have Israel who didn’t even try to follow the ceasefire.

          The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)[109] reported monthly Israeli attacks involving drones, missiles, small arms fire and airstrikes. Six of the deaths in Gaza occurred in the border area’s Access Restricted Areas (ARAs, non-demarcated zones within Gazan territory unilaterally defined by Israel as being of restricted access), despite the ceasefire’s prohibition on Israeli attacks on these areas.[31][109] OCHAO, more broadly sourced data, reported 11 deaths in Gaza and 81 injuries for 2013.[110]

          In the first three months after the IDF Operation Pillar of Defense, according to Ben White, two mortar shells struck Israeli territory, while four Gazans were shot dead and 91 were wounded by Israeli forces who fired inside Gazan territory on 63 occasions, made 13 incursions into the Strip, and attacked the Gazan fishing fleet 30 times.[111] Israeli attacks on Gaza steadily increased during the second half of 2013, notwithstanding the decrease in attacks from Gaza.

          Israel’s violations in these two paragraphs alone are in the triple digits.

          • mwguy@infosec.pubEnglish
            11·
            6 months ago

            those are likely not Hamas rockets.

            The fuck? You’ve got to be trolling right? Hamas brags about it’s rocket fire. It’s almost it’s defining characteristics. Do you have any evidence that suggests it wasn’t Hamas?

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
              2·
              6 months ago

              Hamas brags about rocket fire outside of ceasefires. Do you have any evidence that suggests they were Hamas missiles? Again, my evidence is that Hamas actually followed the ceasefire (setting aside the attack we’re talking about right now, it’s confirmed that Hamas didn’t fire rocket attacks and policed other groups to prevent them from doing so throughout the conflict ceasefire), and that they actually wanted it. Ceasefires are victories for Hamas, not something they’d want to get around.

              Edit: Brainfart.

              • mwguy@infosec.pubEnglish
                1·
                6 months ago

                Do you have any evidence that suggests they were Hamas missiles?

                Yes the articles linked in the Wikipedia page.

                Ceasefires are victories for Hamas, not something they’d want to get around.

                If you’d read the article you’d see that ceasefire for Hamas are routinely violated by them with no consequences.