Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the US secretary of state’s visit on Thursday is a “tangible example of America’s unequivocable support of Israel”.
He compared the Hamas militant group that staged a ferocious attack on Israel over the weekend to the Islamic State group.
“Just as ISIS was crushed, Hamas will be crushed,” he said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated America’s support.
“The message I bring with me is this: You may strong enough on your own to defend yourselves but as long as America exists you will never have to,” he said.
“You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourselves, but as long as America exists you will never have to,” Blinken said after meeting with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. “We will always be there by your side.”
Blinken is to meet Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose authority is confined to parts of the occupied West Bank, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in a 1967 war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state, but there have been no peace talks in over a decade.
In Gaza, the Israeli military said overnight strikes targeted Hamas’ elite Nukhba forces, including command centers used by the fighters who attacked Israel on Saturday, and the home of a senior Hamas naval operative that it said was used to store unspecified weapons. Other airstrikes killed commanders from two smaller militant groups, according to media linked to those organizations.