Blinken Urges Israel to Craft Post-war Gaza Plan, Warns of Chaos

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu at the Moldovan Presidency in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu at the Moldovan Presidency in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP)
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Blinken Urges Israel to Craft Post-war Gaza Plan, Warns of Chaos

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu at the Moldovan Presidency in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu at the Moldovan Presidency in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday urged Israel to come up with a post-war plan for Gaza and warned that the absence of it could trigger lawlessness, chaos and a comeback by Hamas in the enclave.

Blinken, speaking at a press conference in Moldova, said that while Israel has had real success in destroying the capacity of Hamas to repeat an attack such as the one that occurred on Oct. 7, the Israeli government now had to ask whether further gains against Hamas would be durable without a post-war plan.

He cited the added difficulty of Hamas being closely embedded with civilians.

"And I think this underscores the imperative of having a plan for the day after because in the absence of a plan for the day after there won't be a day after," Blinken said.

"If not, Hamas will be left in charge, which is unacceptable. Or if not, we'll have chaos, lawlessness, and a vacuum."

Israel's three-week-old Rafah offensive stirred renewed outrage after an airstrike on Sunday ignited a blaze in a tent camp in a western district, killing at least 45 people.

Israel said it had targeted two senior Hamas operatives in a compound and had not intended to cause civilian casualties.

Blinken said on Wednesday he could not verify whether US-supplied weapons were used by Israel in its latest deadly attack in Rafah, adding that what weapons were used and how would have to be the object of an investigation into the attack.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.