Blinken says Palestinians displaced in Gaza must be able to return home
Al Jazeera
In Doha, the top US diplomat rejected Israeli officials’ comments calling for mass displacement of Gaza residents.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Palestinian civilians must be able to return home and rejected statements by Israeli officials calling for the mass displacement of Gaza residents.
Speaking at a press conference in Doha on Sunday alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Blinken said the United Nations can play a crucial role in allowing displaced civilians in Gaza to return home as Israel moves to a “lower-intensity phase” of its military campaign.
“They [Palestinian civilians] cannot – they must not – be pressed to leave Gaza,” he said.
The top US diplomat condemned the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief and correspondent Wael Dahdouh, and called it an “unimaginable tragedy”.
Hamza was killed along with fellow journalist Mustafa Thuraya in an Israeli attack on southern Gaza on Sunday.
