US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken rejected the idea of calling the United States for a ceasefire in Gaza despite the huge number of child casualties in the unprecedented Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.

In response to a question posed to him by broadcaster Margaret Brenyan on the “Face the Nation” program on CBS, regarding the “UNICEF” report that at least 1,524 children were killed in the Gaza Strip during this bombing, “Why does the United States not call for a temporary halt to the launch of... “At least fire,” Blinken answered, evading the question by saying that the death of children on both sides hits him “right in the heart,” avoiding criticism of the ferocious Israeli bombing campaign. He pointed to American efforts to persuade Israel to allow aid trucks to enter Gaza via Egypt.

When Brennan followed up with, “Why doesn’t the United States push for at least a temporary ceasefire,” Blinken said, “Israel must do everything in its power to make sure this does not happen again,” referring to the Hamas attack on October 7. “Freezing things in their current place will allow Hamas to remain where it is and repeat what it did at some point in the future, and no country can accept that.”

Blinken claimed that the reason for the inability of the Gazan Americans is due to Hamas preventing them from leaving, despite the fact that the Strip is under a tight Israeli siege and that Egypt has not allowed people to enter its territory from its only border crossing with Gaza.

“People have come to Rafah, the crossing with Egypt,” he said. “So far, at least, Hamas has prevented them from leaving, which once again shows its complete disdain for civilians of any kind - stuck in Gaza, so the ball is really in Hamas’ court, in terms of allowing "For people who want to leave, and for civilians from third countries, including Americans, to leave Gaza."

Despite Blinken's claim, it was reported in recent days that dual nationals were asked to go to the Rafah border crossing but were not allowed into Egypt. According to a report by NBC News, there are about 600 Americans stuck in Gaza, and they say they are not receiving help from the United States to get out. Amir Qaoud, a Palestinian American at the Rafah crossing, told NBC: “America is not helping us, Biden is not helping us, and the embassy is not helping us.”