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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday for the first leg of a Middle East tour as part of another diplomatic push for a ceasefire in Gaza and efforts to stop the conflict from spreading further across the region.
Mr Blinken will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon, before heading to Tel Aviv to meet Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a schedule released by the US Department of State.
The week-long tour of the Middle East, which also includes Jordan and Qatar, comes as Israel continues its military operations in the Gaza Strip and intensifies attacks against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon. It is Mr Blinken’s 11th trip to the region since the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7 last year and follows the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week.
The US is increasing pressure on Israel to allow greater quantities of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where almost the entire population have lost their homes and does not have enough to eat. Disease is running rampant in the enclave, where more than 42,600 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured in over a year of war.
Israel’s military operations in the territory were sparked by the Hamas attacks last year, which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. About 100 Israelis remain held in Gaza and there is growing anger among the Israeli public about the failure to reach a ceasefire deal to secure their release.
“Throughout the region, Secretary Blinken will discuss the importance of bringing the war in Gaza to an end, securing the release of all hostages, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people,” the US State Department said in a statement.
The US top diplomat’s talks in the region will also cover Lebanon, where Washington’s envoy Amos Hochstein this week met officials to try to reach a solution that “brings an end to this conflict once and for all”, he told reporters in Beirut.
Last week, Washington sent a letter to Israeli ministers warning them that US weapons supplies to the country would be curbed if Mr Netanyahu’s government did not do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
In recent days the Israeli military has publicised aid deliveries it has facilitated into Gaza, but aid officials say they are still well below the quantities required. They report that Israel denies nearly all their requests to deliver supplies to northern Gaza, among the worst-affected parts of the enclave, often without reason, and widely describe the area as “under siege”.
Mr Blinken “will continue discussions on post-conflict period planning and emphasise the need to chart a new path forward that enables Palestinians to rebuild their lives and realise their aspirations free from Hamas’s tyranny,” the State Department readout said. “He will underscore that additional food, medicine and other humanitarian aid must be delivered to civilians in Gaza.”
A Gaza ceasefire deal is still far out of reach, analysts say. In a written briefing, the Washington-based Soufan Centre think tank said the willingness of Hamas to negotiate a ceasefire deal depends in part on who is chosen to replace Mr Sinwar, who was widely believed to favour a bullish stance against reaching an agreement.
“Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not fully accomplished its core objectives either in Gaza or against Hezbollah,” its analysis read. “Both groups either resist Israel’s demands and vow to continue retaliating for Israeli operations against them … Whether Israel can accomplish its remaining objectives in Gaza might depend on who is elevated to the leadership of Hamas following the killing of Yahya Sinwar.”