Tel Aviv, Oct 12 (IANS): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top officials of his government on arrival with strong assurances of US support to them in their war with the Hamas terrorists that has now entered the sixth day leaving 25 Americans dead alongside over a near 2,000 on either side
A large part of the discussion between Israel leaders and Blinken was the Americans in Israel who remain unaccounted for and working to release those being held hostage by Hamas.
Some 25 Americans have been reportedly killed in Israel since the start of the Hamas attacks as the death toll mounted to a near 2,000 on either side, media reports said.
Blinken held a joint press meet with Netanyahu here as his overseas trip comes on the back of the Israel Defense Forces preparing for the next larger offensive against the militants in the war that has paralysed the Gaza Strip where 2 million Palestinians live, now without food, fuel or electricity as even hospitals were bombed.
Israel Defence Forces claimed they had given sufficient warnings to the people in Gaza of the impending bombings but Hamas was using schools, colleges, hospitals, mosques with civilians as human shields to avoid any attacks, reports said.
Blinken said his simple message was that the US has Israel's back. "We know Hamas doesn't represent the Palestinian people. We know Hamas didn't commit its heinous acts with the interest of Palestinians in mind. Hamas has one agenda: to destroy Israel and murder Jews," Blinken said.
"Israel has the right to defend itself and ensure this never happens again."
The Secretary of State is also scheduled to visit Jordan on Friday to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian authority, and King Abdullah the second of Jordan.
New IDF video shows air strikes shattering structures across Gaza, buildings the army says are connected to terrorists, CNN reported. They are striking what they categorize as a terrorist target at sea.
Hospitals are overflowing with the wounded and families in the region face an uncertain future. "There is nothing that we can do. Even the place that I am in right now is almost out of water, almost out of food," Afaf Najar, who is sheltering in Gaza, said.
The US has made it clear Israel gets what it needs to defend itself and the first tranche of arms and ammunition have already arrived here.
"My commitment to Israel security and the safety of Jewish people is unshakable. The US has Israel's back and we're going to be working on this all day and beyond," US President Joe Biden said earlier this week.