Attacks by "extremist settlers" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank "must stop," U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Monday.
"Attacks by extremist settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and those committing the violence must be held accountable," Austin said at a news conference with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv.
Austin is on a Middle East tour to Bahrain, Qatar, and Israel. He and Gallant discussed the ongoing war in Gaza, the protection of civilians, and the recent attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Yemeni Houthi rebels.
"I also discussed the need to take urgent action to stabilize the West Bank," said the U.S. defense chief.
Reiterating that U.S. support for Israeli security is "unshakable," he said Washington would keep pushing "relentlessly" for the safe return of hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Austin emphasized that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza, pummeled by weeks of Israeli attacks, is both "a moral duty and a strategic imperative," while vowing to "continue to urge the protection of civilians during conflict and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza."
Israel's air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas have killed more than 19,450 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to health authorities in the enclave.
The war has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.
Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while more than 130 hostages remain in captivity.
