US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has promised that Israel will never have to defend itself as long as America exists. He informed about this on October 12 during a visit to the country.
“You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side," Blinken noted.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, October 12, 2023.
The US Secretary of State, who was born into a Jewish family, spoke about his stepfather, who survived concentration camps during the Holocaust. "I understand on a personal level the harrowing echoes that Hamas’s massacres carry for Israeli Jews, indeed for Jews everywhere," he noted.
"I also come before you as a husband and father of young children. It’s impossible for me to look at the photos of families killed, such as the mother, father, and three small children murdered as they sheltered in their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, and not think of my own children. Babies slaughtered, bodies desecrated, young people burned alive, women raped, parents executed in front of their children, children in front of their parents. How are we even to understand this, to digest this?", the US Secretary of State continued.
- On October 7, Hamas invaded the territory of Israel. In response, Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip. At least 1 300 were killed on the Israeli side, and almost 1 500 on the Palestinian side. The UN declared numerous violations of human rights on both sides. Among the dead in Israel are seven Ukrainians, another nine were injured and nine are considered missing. Almost 200 more Ukrainians said they want to evacuate from the Gaza Strip. But it is impossible to leave there yet.
- The Israel Defense Forces states it has so far struck about 3 600 targets in the Gaza Strip, using more than 6 000 rounds of ammunition. Israel is attacking all Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including military headquarters, military facilities, weapons production centers and facilities associated with the terrorist groupʼs leadership.