US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered his end-of-year press conference on Wednesday, addressing the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. He said Israel has an obligation to remove the threat of Hamas and minimize the toll on civilians in Gaza. “We hear many countries urging the end to this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying, demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it’s surrender”, Antony Blinken said.