Blinken says the U.S. will ‘always be there’ for Israel, urges safety for civilians

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Thursday in the first leg of a diplomatic tour in the Middle East to show support for Israel following deadly attacks by Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken's arrival also comes as a humanitarian crisis unfolds in Gaza, where nearly 340,000 Palestinians have been displaced by Israel's retaliatory strikes, according to the United Nations.

The diplomatic push is taking place as Israel and Gaza experience the most dramatic escalation in violence in recent memory, with concerns the chaos could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries across the Middle East.

"You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never ever have to. We will always be there by your side," Blinken said, speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

And he urged Israel to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians in Gaza as it retaliates. "We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard, even when it's difficult," Blinken said.

Air raid sirens sounded sporadically across Israel Thursday morning. Israeli military officials says Hamas has continued to attempt incursions from Gaza.

The death toll continues to rise, with Israeli authorities reporting at least 1,300 dead in the attacks by Hamas. Palestinian health officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,350 in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu announced the formation of a wartime unity government that includes opposition leader and former army commander Benny Gantz.

Another goal of Blinken's trip is to secure the freedom of hostages kidnapped by Hamas from last weekend's attacks on Israel. As many as 150 people are estimated to be held hostage by Hamas, including an unknown number of Americans.

Current fighting began over the weekend

Palestinian fighters launched a surprise attack from Gaza into Israel last weekend during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Militants infiltrated Israel's border last Saturday using paragliders, motorbikes and boats and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza. Israel has responded by launching missile strikes into Gaza.

Overnight heading into Thursday, Israel continued to mobilize troops along the country's border with the Gaza Strip and extended its bombardments. The Associated Press reported that Israeli military Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said Thursday that forces "are preparing for a ground maneuver if decided," but the country's political leadership has not yet ordered one.

An additional 51 Palestinians were killed overnight into early Thursday, Gaza officials said. Palestinian health officials say that some 800 of those killed in the retaliation have been women and children.

At least 25 U.S. citizens were killed in the Hamas attacks, Blinken said Thursday. President Biden confirmed Tuesday that Americans are among the hostages held by Hamas, but did not say how many. Other countries, such as China, France and the United Kingdom, have also reported citizens killed or missing in the conflict.

Blinken is also expected to push for the creation of a corridor to allow Gaza civilians to safely leave the Gaza Strip, which has been under constant bombardment from Israel.

Live television footage on Thursday morning showed huge plumes of smoke rising from buildings in Gaza. More than 2 million Palestinians have lost access to electricity, water, food and fuel supplies from outside of Gaza after Israel put the territory under full siege.

Increasingly dire conditions in Gaza

In addition to the growing number of Palestinians killed, more than 5,800 people have been wounded by Israeli bombs since Saturday, officials in Gaza said.

President Biden is urging Israel publicly and privately to get humanitarian supplies into Gaza. The U.S. is asking Israel to "introduce some sort of respect for humanitarian concerns into their equations," a senior U.S. official said.

Hamas, which governs Gaza, said Wednesday that the territory would be plunged into "complete darkness" within the day. Hours later, Gaza's main power plant shut down. Israel has put Gaza under complete siege, barring the entry of fuel, food, water, medicine and more into the territory.

All of the Gaza Strip's borders are closed, leaving Palestinian civilians with nowhere to escape or seek safety. Around one-tenth of Gaza's population of about 2.3 million people is internally displaced. Many have sought shelter in U.N.-run schools.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said 11 of its employees were killed in the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Hamas militant group took control of the territory in 2007. Egypt was sending in some aid through its border with Gaza but has stopped these deliveries since Tuesday due to Israel's airstrikes of the Gaza side of the border crossing.

Israel buries its dead

Israelis held funerals for those killed in Saturday's attack, when militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel, attacking communities along the country's southern border.

Militants overran a police station and military positions. They gunned down revelers at a dance music festival near Israel's border with Gaza, killing more than 200 people. They raided gated communities and shot families dead, and Israeli officials estimate they took at least 100 hostages to the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is expected to try to use the hostages in bargaining to free some of the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, but the group insists it will not negotiate while Gaza is under attack.

Hamas' military wing, Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, threatened to execute a civilian hostage every time civilians in Gaza die in their homes from Israeli airstrikes that come without warning. No such publicly known execution has yet been carried out.

Questions have mounted over how Hamas — whose communications and operations are heavily surveilled by Israeli intelligence services — caught Israel by surprise.

Three days before the Hamas attacks, Egypt had warned Israel of a possible threat, said House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, after a classified briefing Wednesday.

"We know that this had been planned for perhaps as long as a year ago," McCaul said. "We're not quite sure how we missed it. We're not quite sure how Israel missed it."

Blinken's diplomatic efforts will continue Thursday after he departs Israel for Jordan, where he will meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II, then with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman on Friday.

There, Blinken will urge Abbas to condemn the violence. Such a declaration would put Abbas in a difficult position, a senior U.S. official said, but Blinken will tell the Palestinian leader that it is important to distinguish himself from Hamas, an organization that the U.S. and Israel have declared a terrorist organization.

Palestinian Authority officials have privately told American leaders that they are horrified at the violence against Israeli civilians, the U.S. official said.

NPR's Aya Batrawy and Kevin Drew contributed to this report.

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