Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah and Israel showed there was no fundamental change in the US position, Al Jazeera reports citing Reuters.

“The aim of the visit was to support the security of the occupation,” he told Reuters. “There are no differences between Israel and the Americans.”

In a statement, Hamas also said Blinken’s position “reflects the extent of US involvement in these crimes and the widespread violations of all international laws committed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip”.

“Blinken’s attempts to justify the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation army against Palestinian civilians – by saying that the Palestinian resistance is concentrated among civilians – are miserable attempts to wash the hands of the criminal occupation of the blood of children, women and the elderly of Gaza,” it added.