WASHINGTON

The US State Department clarified on Tuesday the deletion of a tweet by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, citing that it was "unfortunately worded."  

"The tweet was unfortunately worded, did not capture that appropriately. So we pulled it down," said Spokesman Matthew Miller in response to a question by Anadolu during the daily press briefing.

On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken removed a social media post where he called for a "cease-fire" between Israel and Hamas amid their ongoing conflict. The post was linked to a phone call between Blinken and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan regarding Hamas's surprise attack in Israel.

"I encouraged Türkiye's advocacy for a cease-fire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas immediately," Blinken posted on X on Sunday.

Miller stated that the readout of the phone call released on Sunday explicitly conveyed that "the Secretary, in his conversation, had reiterated what we just said publicly a number of times, which is Hamas should cease its violent activities against Israel."

He also added that the State Department had issued several statements supporting "Israel's right to defend itself."