QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you for having me.
QUESTION: This is your sixth tour in the region since the war started in October. Are you carrying any more initiatives to end the bloodshed in Gaza?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: We are. We’re pressing for an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages. That would bring immediate relief to so many people who are suffering in Gaza – the children, the women, the men. It would allow a much greater expansion of humanitarian assistance getting to them, and it could create the conditions to have a lasting, enduring ceasefire, which is also what we want to see. So that’s the urgency in this moment. That’s what we’re pressing, with Qatar and Egypt working closely with us to try to get an agreement.
QUESTION: Some may wonder how are you pressuring Israel to do so while you are still continuing supporting them financially and militarily, and even in the United Nations by vetoing any resolution that commits for an immediate ceasefire.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, in fact, we actually have a resolution that we put forward right now that’s before the United Nations Security Council that does call for an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages, and we hope very much that countries will support that. I think that would send a strong message, a strong signal. But, of course, we stand with Israel and its right to defend itself, to make sure that October 7th never happens again, but at the same time, it’s imperative that the civilians who are in harm’s way and who are suffering so terribly – that we focus on them, that we make them a priority, protecting the civilians, getting them humanitarian assistance. And we’ve been leading the effort to do that, to get more in, to get more to the people who need it. We are pressing on that as hard as we can.
QUESTION: Talking about the humanitarian aid, as we know, the Biden administration is working on a maritime corridor or pier. Can you tell us more about it – when it will operate, how it will operate, who will distribute the aid? How about the security that must be there?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: What’s so important is to get as much assistance into Gaza by as many means as possible. So yes, the maritime corridor, and actually, we’ve already seen ships start to bring assistance to Gaza on the sea. But we want to make sure that there’s a pier, a port that can accommodate as much assistance as possible, and we’re in the process of building that. And I think in a matter of weeks, hopefully, that will be done.
But that’s not a substitute for what’s even more important, which is getting assistance through over land, and that means that Israel needs to open up more access points to Gaza. We’ve seen some progress there, including a new access point that was opened just about a week ago. The ones that are already – that already exist, we have to get more assistance through on a regular basis, and all of this is necessary to do it, to make sure that as much assistance as possible is coming in through as many points as possible, reaching as many people as possible.
Another part of the challenge is it’s not enough to simply get trucks, ships, air drops into Gaza. Once the assistance is there, it has to get to the people who need it, and this is something that we’re focusing on very much as well with the United Nations, with other providers.
QUESTION: A UN expert said that you’re not doing enough, and even this new maritime corridor is – it will alleviate the hunger of like a small number of people in a very short period of time, and the Biden administration is doing it out of performance for political purposes related to the elections to meet a domestic audience. How do you respond to that?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, I – simply by saying that, as I mentioned a minute ago, we’re…
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