Amid growing international calls for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday criticized what he views as a disproportionate pressure campaign on Israel.

“What is striking to me is that … we hear many countries urging the end to this conflict, which we would all like to see,” Blinken told reporters at his year-end news conference in Washington. “I hear virtually no one … demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that.

“How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim?” he asked.

Blinken added that if the war ends now with Hamas continuing to rule the Gaza Strip and remaining a threat to Israel, “that’s not in the interest of Israel. It’s not in the interest of the region. It’s not in the interest of the world.“

Blinken’s comments came as the United Nations Security Council is meeting again to consider a resolution calling for a halt in the fighting.

According to The Washington Post, a revised version of the resolution eliminated the word “cease-fire” and instead demanded “urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access.”

Blinken said the U.S. was working with countries Wednesday to resolve some issues it has with the resolution. The secretary of state said the goal of the measure is to provide greater humanitarian assistance in Gaza, efforts the U.S. has led since Hamas sparked the war in October by attacking Israel. But Blinken said the U.S. wants to ensure the resolution “actually advances that effort and doesn’t do anything that could actually hurt the delivery of humanitarian assistance, make it more complicated.”

But Blinken said the U.S. will continue working to bring the conflict to an end “as quickly as possible,” minimize civilian suffering and secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

“We continue to believe that Israel does not have to choose between removing the threat of Hamas and minimizing the toll on civilians in Gaza,” he said. “It has an obligation to do both. “

Blinken said it has been “gut wrenching” to see the suffering of civilians in Gaza.

The secretary of state said the U.S. wants to see Israel shift to more targeted operations using fewer troops in Gaza, but he did not provide any desired timeline for the next phase of the war.

Blinken also made his case for Congress to approve President Joe Biden’s proposed $106 billion spending package, which would include $14.3 billion to help Israel and $61.4 billion to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“What we do, what we fail to do in this moment will have profound consequences for decades to come,” he said. “The stakes could not be clearer. If we want to deliver on the issues that affect the lives of the American people, we have to keep investing in ourselves, in our network of allies and partners, and our ability to solve global challenges.”

He said Moscow, Tehran and Beijing will cheer if the package is not passed.

“If we come up short, it won’t be our adversaries and competitors who stopped us,” Blinken said. “It will be ourselves.”