Blinken: Israel has 'obligation' to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he made clear to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel must put in place protections for civilians in Gaza when it resumes its military operations in the enclave. 

"The way Israel defends itself matters. It's imperative that Israel act in accordance with international humanitarian law and the laws of war. Even when confronting a terrorist group that respects neither," Blinken told reporters on Thursday at a press conference in Tel Aviv. 

"In my meetings today with the prime minister and senior Israeli officials, I made clear that before Israel resumes major military operations, it must put in place, humanitarian civilian protection plans that minimise further casualties of innocent Palestinians."

He added: "Israel has ... one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world. It is capable of neutralising the threat posed by Hamas while minimising harm to innocent men, women and children. And it has an obligation to do so. 

Ultimately, that's not just the right thing to do. It's also in Israel's security interest."

Blinken told reporters that Netanyahu and members of his war cabinet agreed with such an approach. 

"We discussed the details of Israel's ongoing planning, and I underscore the imperative of the United States that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale that we saw in northern Gaza, not be repeated in the south, as I told the prime minister intent matters, but so does the result," he said. 

Israel forcibly ejected over 1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza and told them to flee south of the enclave.

But no area of the Gaza Strip has been safe for Palestinians, with relentless Israeli bombing of both northern and southern areas.