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The US State Department announced that Secretary Anthony Blinken will leave on Thursday to begin a tour that will include 5 Arab countries, the West Bank, Turkey, and Greece, in addition to Israel, his previously announced stop.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Blinken would discuss issues including “immediate measures to significantly increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”
Miller said that the minister will also discuss “preventing the expansion of the conflict,” following the assassination of Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri in an Israeli strike in Lebanon, and the escalation of Houthi operations against Israeli ships, or those heading to Israel, in the Red Sea.
Miller stressed that the minister “will discuss specific steps that the parties can take, including how they can use their influence with others in the region to prevent escalation.”
He continued, “The conflict crossing the Gaza borders is not in anyone’s interest: neither Israel, nor the region, nor the world,” and explained that Blinken will visit Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
For his part, the US Secretary of State wrote on the
This is the fourth tour that Blinken has undertaken in the region since the attack of October 7, 2023, launched by the Palestinian resistance led by the Al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Hamas movement – on settlements and military sites in the Gaza envelope, which was followed by the Israeli aggression against the Strip that continues to this day. .
In his last visit to Israel before the end Truce One day, last November 30, Blinken discussed with Israeli leaders opportunities to extend humanitarian truces in the besieged Strip, but he then left minutes before the bombing broke out again.
It is noteworthy that Blinken and the American President joe biden US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attended the War Council meetings in Tel Aviv during their visit to Israel, and the American visits to the region came within the framework of supporting Israel, discussing prisoner exchange deals, and reducing escalation in the region, in accordance with its declared goals.
