Secretary of State Antony Blinken, visiting Israel for the fourth time since Hamas' terrorist attack on Oct. 7, said Friday he saw more evidence of atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli citizens.
More than 1,400 Israelis died in the attack, with accounts of babies being beheaded, women being raped, and people burned alive by terrorists.
"It remains almost beyond the human capacity to process, to digest," Blinken said during a news conference in Tel Aviv.
Blinken described seeing a father grabbing his two young boys out of their living room in a kibbutz and into a shelter in their backyard, and then watching a terrorist throwing a grenade into the shelter. He said as the father came out staggering, he was shot down. The boys came out crying and ran into the house asking for the whereabouts of their father and mother. He said a terrorist came in and casually opened a refrigerator and started eating from it.
"That's what we're dealing with," Blinken said. "And it is striking and, in some ways, shocking that the brutality of the slaughter has receded so quickly in the memories of so many. But not in Israel, and not in America. Thirty-five Americans were murdered that day as well, and more than 200 foreign nationals from 35 countries."
Blinken continued to support Israel's right to defend itself, but also stressed the need to protect Palestinian civilians as Israel continues its ground operation in the Gaza Strip to root out Hamas terrorists and rescue hostages.
"Hamas doesn't care one second or one iota for the welfare, for the well-being of the Palestinian people," he said. "It cynically and monstrously uses them as human shields, putting its commanders in command posts; its weapons and ammunition within or beneath residential buildings, schools, mosques, hospitals.
"But civilians should not suffer the consequences for its inhumanity and its brutality. We've provided Israel advice that only the best of friends can offer on how to minimize civilian deaths while still achieving its objectives of finding and finishing Hamas terrorists and their infrastructure of violence. Today, I spoke with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and other senior officials about concrete steps to do that."