Blinken: 'Our focus now is on helping to create safe zones' in Gaza
At a press conference with the Qatari prime minister, Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed efforts to implement safe zones in Gaza and provide other humanitarian assistance, but did not shed additional light on efforts to evacuate Americans and other foreign nationals ahead of a potential Israeli ground incursion.
"When it comes to providing for civilians in Gaza, both ensuring that they can be out of harm's way and that they can have access to the support that they need -- the humanitarian assistance the food, the medicine, water -- our focus now is on helping to create safe zones. And we're doing that with leading international organizations, and we're doing that engaged with Israel," Blinken said.
But Blinken said that those efforts to help Palestinians were still being actively hindered by Hamas.
"Hamas continues to use innocent civilians as human shields," he said.
"We know the humanitarian situation is urgent. We're actively engaged with partners, including Qatar, to get aid to the those who need it," he said.
-ABC News' Shannon Crawford