Oct. 7 onslaught, ensuing war have raised ‘deeply troubling human rights concerns’ — Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlights both Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and the war Israel launched to defeat the terror group among the issues covered in the State Department’s 2023 human rights report that was unveiled today.

“Hamas’s horrific attacks on Israel on October 7 last year and the devastating loss of civilian life in Gaza as Israel exercises its right to ensure that those attacks never happen again, have raised deeply troubling human rights concerns,” Blinken says at a press conference called to discuss the report.

“We continue to work every day to bring the fighting to an end, to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and other groups, to uphold international humanitarian law, to prevent further suffering, to create a path toward a more peaceful and secure future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Blinken says.

The Israel chapter of the human rights report itself begins by highlighting the large-scale attack launched by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups on October 7, “killing an estimated 1,200 individuals, injuring more than 5,400, and abducting 253 hostages.”

“Israel responded with a sustained, wide-scale military operation in Gaza, which had killed more than 21,000 Palestinians and injured more than 56,000 by the end of the year, displaced the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, and resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis,” the report says. “The continuing conflict had a significant negative impact on the human rights situation in the country.”

The State Department declined to say what its source was for the 2023 Palestinian death count from the Gaza war.