In their meeting President Herzog presents Secretary Blinken with examples of methods and materials used by the IDF to alert Gazan civilians of intended military action, and calling for them to move to the safe zones.

President Herzog:

“Welcome, Mr. Secretary, you're a great friend, and we appreciate it and we respect it and I want to commend you wholeheartedly on behalf of the people of Israel for your moral clarity, for your incredible speeches, especially the one in the Senate, which gave the clear picture and the real truth as to the fate of the hostages, as to the tragedy that has befallen our people, and of course as to the inherent right of Israelis to defend themselves. We are hearing outside the demonstration of the families. Our heart goes out to them. We understand, we want their immediate release.

And finally, I want to say something as to the humanitarian and international law to which the State of Israel abides. This is a leaflet which we are sending to the citizens of Gaza, according to the rules of international law, where we alert the citizens in advance - including before Jabalya - saying please move out because as we have the right to self defense, we want you to go out of the premises from where missiles, and guns, and bombs, and mortars are shell people, and from where the horrendous, atrocious attacks came. 

So you move out so we can go in according to international law and defend our people. Six million voice messages, and four million text messages, and 1.2 million pamphlets, and phone calls in addition to all of that. This speaks for itself as we protect the civilians moving out to safe zone, giving them the right and necessary humanitarian aid and enabling us to defend ourselves.”

Secretary Blinken:

“Thank you, Mr. President. It’s always good to be back in Israel. These are difficult days, but we're here as we have been and as we will remain - in solidarity with Israel. We stand strong for the proposition that Israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself, and to do everything possible to make sure that this October 7 can never happen again. At the same time, as you've just made clear, how Israel does this matters. And it is very important that when it comes to the protection of civilians, who are caught in the crossfire of Hamas’s making, that everything be done to protect them and to bring assistance to those who so desperately need it, and who are not in any way responsible for what happened on October 7. 

So we're working on all of that together. But we have a shared determination and that determination will not wane. We are also are thinking every single moment of our hostages. So many Israelis, Americans, other nationals. And we are determined to do everything that we can to bring them back safely to bring them back to do their families and loved ones. Thank you.”

Source: INN