Blinken says Palestinians displaced in Gaza must be able to return home

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Palestinian civilians must be able to return home and rejected statements by Israeli officials calling for the mass displacement of Gaza residents.

Speaking at a press conference in Doha on Sunday alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Blinken said the United Nations can play a crucial role in allowing displaced civilians in Gaza to return home as Israel moves to a “lower-intensity phase” of its military campaign.

“They [Palestinian civilians] cannot – they must not – be pressed to leave Gaza,” he said.

The top US diplomat condemned the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief and correspondent Wael Dahdouh, and called it an “unimaginable tragedy”.

Hamza was killed along with fellow journalist Mustafa Thuraya in an Israeli attack on southern Gaza on Sunday.

Israeli forces previously killed several members of Wael Dahdouh’s immediate family in an air raid.

“I can’t begin to imagine the horror that he’s experienced – not once, but now twice,” Blinken said.

“This is why we are pressing the need – the imperative – not only of making sure that humanitarian assistance can get to people who need it, but that people are protected from harm from this conflict in the first place.”

Tamer Qarmout, assistant professor in public policy at the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that while Blinken has expressed sorrow over Dahdouh’s loss, the top US diplomat has not held Israel accountable for killing journalists in Gaza.