NEW DELHI: Far too many Palestinians have been killed and more needs to be done to protect civilians and provide them humanitarian aid, secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Friday in one of the strongest US condemnations of the death toll in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

India and the US stand with Israel in countering terrorism, though there is “more that can and should be done to minimise harm to Palestinian civilians”, Blinken told a media briefing after co-chairing the India-US 2+2 dialogue of defence and foreign ministers in New Delhi.

The Israel-Hamas conflict figured in the joint statement issued after the 2+2 dialogue, with India and the US saying that they will continue diplomatic coordination, including with key partners in West Asia, to prevent the conflict from spreading, preserve stability in the region, and work towards a political solution.

“Far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks. And we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximise the assistance that gets to them,” Blinken said in his opening remarks at the briefing.

“To that end, we’ll be continuing to discuss with Israel concrete steps that can be taken to advance these objectives,” he said.

The US will focus on freeing hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 terror attacks while simultaneously expanding humanitarian aid into Gaza, he said. The US will also focus on steps to set the “foundation for durable and lasting peace”, which has to “include two states for two peoples”, he added.

As the death toll in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli bombardment has mounted, the US has shifted its position to include more direct condemnation of civilian deaths. However, it has not denounced Israel’s offensive and has backed the country’s right to defend itself following the Hamas attacks.

More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including some 4,500 children, while another 183 have been killed in the West Bank. The offensive against Gaza was launched after the Hamas attacks in southern Israel killed more than 1,400 people.

The joint statement issued on Friday noted the “horrific terrorist attacks against Israel” and reiterated that India and the US stand with Israel against terrorism. However, it also called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.

The two sides called for the immediate release of all hostages and said they will coordinate with partners in the region on humanitarian aid to meet the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians. They also expressed support for humanitarian pauses.

Blinken, who has been on a whirlwind tour that took him to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Japan and South Korea, said the US has been talking to the Israel government about steps to minimise harm to Palestinian civilians and maximise humanitarian aid, and to prevent the spread of the conflict.

These steps include humanitarian pauses and humanitarian corridors to allow people to move safely to get out of harm’s way. “We just need to see more of it, and we need to maximise every effort to prevent Palestinian deaths and to advance the humanitarian assistance that’s getting to them,” he said.

Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra told a separate news briefing that India and the US had shared their perspective of the situation in Gaza and their concerns. “From India’s perspective, we have always stood for a two-state solution and early resumption of dialogue,” he said.

India, which has zero tolerance for terrorism, had condemned the terror attacks and also asked for strict observance of humanitarian law and de-escalation of the situation while denouncing civilian casualties, he said.