Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Israel’s conduct in the Gaza conflict, stating that its tactics caused “a horrible loss of life of innocent civilians”, and have not effectively targeted Hamas leaders and fighters and could lead to prolonged unrest. Blinken said Israel lacked a “credible plan” to protect some 1.4 million Palestinian civilians in Rafah and warned an Israeli attack could create an insurgency by failing to kill all Hamas fighters in the southern Gazan city.