US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told Israel that it must account for the safety of Palestinian civilians before resuming any military operations in Gaza, where a week-long truce has allowed the exchange of captives held by Hamas for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

As negotiators from Qatar and Egypt were in difficult talks on Thursday for a new two-day extension to the pause in fighting between Hamas and Israel, the United States’s top diplomat made his third trip to the region since the Israel-Palestinian war began on October 7.

Blinken said Washington remains committed to supporting Israel’s right to self-defence, but also stepped up calls for Israel to comply with international law and protect civilians if it starts major military operations in southern Gaza.

His message was in keeping with the administration of US President Joe Biden’s shifting rhetoric on the war, which began as a full-throated embrace of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks but gradually tempered as the number of Palestinian civilian casualties began to rise dramatically.