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by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the Czernin Palace, in Prague, Czech Republic, May 31, 2024. Photo: Peter David Josek/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East next week, the US State Department said on Friday, as Washington tries to put pressure on Israel and Hamas to accept a ceasefire proposal that President Joe Biden laid out last week.
In his eighth visit to the region since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering the latest flare-up in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the top US diplomat will visit Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Qatar and meet with their senior leaders.
Blinken’s visit comes after Biden laid out a fresh ceasefire plan to end the eight month-long war and at a time when tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah has escalated in recent days, with both sides signaling a readiness for a bigger confrontation.
“The secretary will discuss how the ceasefire proposal would benefit both Israelis and Palestinians,” the State Department said in a statement. “He will underscore that it would alleviate suffering in Gaza, enable a massive surge in humanitarian assistance, and allow Palestinians to return to their neighborhoods.”
Talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and others to arrange a ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist Hamas movement in the Gaza war have repeatedly stalled, with each side blaming the other for the lack of progress.
The ceasefire, the State Department said, would also unlock the possibility of achieving calm along Israel‘s northern border with Lebanon and set conditions for further integration between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
“The secretary will also continue to reiterate the need to prevent the conflict from escalating further,” it added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel was prepared for strong action in the north. He warned in December that Beirut would be turned “into Gaza” if Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group, started an all-out war.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing more than 1,200 people, and seizing more than 250 as hostages.
Israel has responded with a ground and air campaign in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas.
While in Jordan, Blinken will attend a conference on the humanitarian response to Gaza, the department said.
