US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left for Israel on Monday after meetings with six Arab nations in an effort to coordinate the fight against Hamas and find solutions to the impending humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Blinken seeks front in Israel: Just four days after making a quick trip to Tel Aviv to express his support as Israel prepared to launch a significant ground assault in the Gaza Strip, Blinken scheduled a meeting with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.
Blinken told reporters Sunday in Cairo: “I want an opportunity to discuss everything that I’ve heard and learned over the last several days speaking with our other partners and to talk about the way forward with our Israeli allies and friends.
President Joe Biden is reportedly considering accepting an invitation to visit Israel in order to further express what the US leader has called his country’s unshakeable loyalty.
At least 2,670 individuals, mostly regular Palestinians, have been killed by Israel’s unrelenting bombing in the blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip.
US authorities claim that during his journey, Blinken heard widespread opposition to Hamas from leaders as well as concern for the plight of the Palestinians. Blinken stated in Cairo, “I made plain that it cannot and must not be business as usual with Hamas going ahead.
“As he previously stated, ‘and at the same time, we’re determine to do everything we can to address the needs of people in Gaza.'”
“Citizens shouldn’t be made to suffer as a result of Hamas’s atrocities.”
‘Error’ of reoccupying Gaza
Following earlier promises to cut off all supplies of food, water, and energy to the heavily populated region, Israel on Sunday succumbed to US pressure and started providing water to the southern Gaza Strip.
The United States nominated David Satterfield, a retired ambassador scheduled to land in Israel on Monday, as the coordinator responsible for coordinating humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel has the right to respond, according to the Biden administration, which has refrained from urging restraint or a truce.
The Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, a rival of Hamas who is located in the West Bank, has expressed concern about the possibility of more drastic actions like the wholesale displacement of Palestinians.
In an interview with “60 Minutes,” a CBS News programme, that aired on Sunday, Biden warned of the risks associated with any attempt by Israel to reoccupy Gaza.
Biden remarked, “I think it would be a mistake.
Israel vacated Gaza in 2005. Two years later, Israel put an air, land, and sea blockade on the region when Hamas took control of it; both Israel and the US consider Hamas to be a terrorist organisation.
Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain are the other four of the five Arab countries having diplomatic ties to Israel where Blinken had meetings.
He also travelled to Qatar, a US ally that still retains ties with Hamas, and Saudi Arabia, which put its own efforts to normalise relations with Israel on ice as a result of the violence.