Anthony Blinken said his simple message was that ‘the United States has Israel’s back’ as he flew off to meet its leaders last night.

The secretary of state became the most senior US official to visit the country since Saturday’s Hamas terror attack that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead.

The death toll in Gaza has also nearly reached 1,200 the Palestinian Ministry of Health said night after four days of relentless Israeli air raids on the Hamas-controlled territory.

But Blinken insisted he would not try to restrain the Israeli counter-attack ahead of a widely expected invasion of the heavily populated enclave.

‘We know that Israel will take all of the precautions that it can, just as we would, and again that’s what separates us from Hamas and terrorist groups that engage in the most heinous kind of activities,’ he told reporters as he left.

Secretary of state Anthony Blinken promised ‘the United States has Israel’s back’ as he became the most senior US official to visit the country since the October 7 attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself at the head of a new government of national unity this week in response to the attack from Hamas 

Palestinian officials said the death toll in Gaza is already nearly 1,200 ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion 

The secretary of state will offer further military support when he meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a second US carrier group was ordered the region.

But he will also be trying to stop the conflict spreading after Israeli forces again exchanged artillery fire with Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants across the Lebanese border to the north.

‘We will be reiterating the very strong message that President Biden has delivered to any country or any party that might try to take advantage of this situation, and that message is don’t.’

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‘The United States has Israel’s back.

‘We have their back today, we will have it tomorrow, and we will have it every day. And we will always stand resolutely against terrorism.

‘Not since Isis have we seen this kind of depravity and we will continue to stand resolutely against it.

‘Already significant military assistance requested by Israel is on its way, that’s on top of everything we’ve been doing for years.

‘There’ll be further requests and we’ve already been working closely with Congress on this and we look forward to continuing to do that so Israel has what it needs.

America’s top diplomat has already been working the phones in a bid to apply pressure on Hamas to release around 150 hostages it took from Israel in its deadly cross-border raid.

He has spoken to leaders in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates and is expected to visit at least some on his trip to the Middle East.

But critics claimed the unforeseen attack is a symptom of years of neglect in the region which has left the US playing catch-up.

‘The attack by Hamas is a reminder of the perception of an American absence or lack of commitment to the region that some actors might interpret and do things they should not be doing,’ said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute.