DOHA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday visited Qatar on his latest Middle East crisis tour, seeking a new ceasefire and “an enduring end” to the Israel-Hamas war and ongoing Israeli strikes in the besieged Gaza Strip, AFP reported.
The US top diplomat was later bound for Israel, hoping to shore up support for a ceasefire deal that was hashed out in Paris but has not yet been approved by either Hamas or Israel.
Relentless Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 107 people in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry in the territory that has been under almost four months of bombardment.
Fears grew for more than one million Palestinians crowded into the far southern Rafah area as the Israeli bombardment drew ever closer.
Blinken earlier met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo. Blinken and Sisi “discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas,” said the US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
Blinken emphasized Washington’s “rejection of any forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and commitment to establishing a Palestinian state that provides peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike”, Miller said. The United States has strongly supported its top regional ally, Israel, with munitions and diplomatic support.
Israel Continues Relentless Strikes in Gaza
An Israeli air strike on an apartment in southern Gaza killed at least six people on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said. Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians throughout Gaza in the past 24 hours, with attacks focused on Khan Younis in the south. Meanwhile, a threatened Israeli attack looming on a nearby border town, Rafah, teeming with displaced Palestinian people.
The ceasefire offer, delivered to Hamas last week by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, awaits a reply from Hamas, who say they want more guarantees it will stop Israel’s blitz on Gaza, against Israeli vows to continue bombardment until Hamas is wiped out.
In an update on Tuesday, the Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry said at least 27,585 Palestinians, mostly women, and children, had been confirmed killed in Israel’s ground and aerial strikes, with thousands more feared buried under vast tracts of rubble across the densely populated besieged enclave. Over 107 people had been killed in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces on Tuesday kept up the pressure on Khan Younis city, the focus of its attacks for weeks, causing many more deaths and injuries, including the six dead from the air strike on the apartment, Palestinian residents told Reuters.
They said Israeli aircraft and tanks continued to pound and besiege areas around the two main hospitals of Khan Younis – Nasser and Al-Amal.
Rafah, Palestinians’ last southern refuge from Israeli advances towards the border with Egypt, was battered by several Israeli air strikes and tank shelling overnight. In Gaza City in the north of the enclave, residents reported more Israeli air strikes and tank shelling.
During his trouble-shooting Middle East swing, Antony Blinken also aims to win backing for US plans for what would follow a Gaza ceasefire: rebuilding and running the besieged Palestinian territory and, ultimately, for a Palestinian state.
