Protecting and aiding civilians must be „job number one“ for Israel in the war-battered Gaza Strip, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says. „We look to the government of Israel to make sure that this is a priority. Protecting civilians, getting people the assistance they need, that has to be job number one, even as they do what is necessary to defend the country to deal with the threat posed by Hamas,“ Blinken tells reporters during a press conference in Washington, DC. SOUNDBITE