Washington DC - Secretary of State Antony Blinken has once again called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.

"Israel must do everything it can to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance flows into Gaza," Blinken said on Thursday after a meeting with his British counterpart David Cameron in Washington.

"The United States has made clear that Israel has to make maximum efforts to avoid civilian casualties, even as Hamas continues to use civilians as human shields."

The Israeli leadership has taken important additional steps in this direction, he said.

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However, there was still a gap between what he had suggested during his recent visit to Tel Aviv and what could be observed in terms of actual results.

Blinken said, for example, that it was not just a matter of setting up security zones but also of communicating in such a way that non-combatants actually knew where they could flee to, when exactly, and by what route.

There also needs to be food, water, and medicine for the refugees in these safety zones, he said.

"This is something we talk about regularly with the Israelis," he emphasized.

President Joe Biden also addressed this in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

Israel's actions against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza have been widely criticized due to the high number of casualties among the Palestinian civilian population.