JAKARTA - The United States government is in discussions with its partner countries, including Egypt and Israel, regarding safe travel guarantees for its citizens and other civilians to leave Gaza, officials said.
"We think it is important for Americans in Gaza to be allowed to leave Gaza and this is a matter we are working on," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told CNN Wednesday, as quoted October 12.
"We do it secretly, like a lot of diplomacy efforts we do. This is not something productive to talk about openly, but we are doing something we want to achieve," Miller added.
A Washington official said Egypt wanted to use humanitarian corridors to send food and medical supplies to Gaza, but did not want to open borders in other directions to accept fleeing civilians.
Pressure to build a humanitarian corridor is increasing, as civilians feel trapped without any safe route to get out of the area being bombarded by Israeli forces.
There have been reports that the only route out of Gaza, via Egypt, was closed on Tuesday due to attacks and threats of Israeli ground attacks.
On Tuesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the matter was "something we have also discussed with our colleagues in Israel and with our colleagues in Egypt."
"And without specifically discussing the safe route for civilians and so on, I would say that this is something the US government is doing in supporting the way we do it operationally," he explained.
Neither Sullivan nor Miller gave a time limit when the safe route could be operated.
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Sullivan has spoken over the past few days with Abbas Kamel, head of Egyptian spies.
"It is our top priority to protect the safety and security of Americans abroad," Miller said.
"I will also say, as the president said yesterday, we do not want to see the deaths of civilians anywhere. We want to see civilians protected. We want to see civilians not be targeted. We hope Israel follows the law of war," he said.
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