U.S Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has arrived in Egypt, the second stop of his fifth Middle East tour since the start of the Gaza war, to push for a truce and “an enduring end” to the Gaza war.
Blinken flew to Cairo from Riyadh, where he held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He met with Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and U.S Ambassador to Egypt, Herro Mustafa Garg.
Egypt has been working with the U.S and Qatar to mediate an end to the conflict.
His trip has increased in urgency as Israeli forces in Gaza push farther south, towards the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border.
More than half of the enclave’s 2.3 million population are believed to have taken shelter in the area.
Blinken will also travel later to Qatar and Israel.
At Israel, Blinken is expected to discuss hostage negotiations, postwar Gaza plans and the prospect of Israel and its neighbours’ normalizing ties.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority stated that Israel is receiving Blinken by “escalating its crimes and genocide against our people, targeting civilians, preventing access to basic needs, and continuing to destroy the Gaza Strip.”
In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry noted that Israel is sending a strong message by challenging the international community and the U.S administration by cramming more than 1.3 million Palestinians into Rafah, amid threats to invade the southern city and “commit more massacres.”
“Israel will welcome Blinken amid the deepening fragmentation of the West Bank, the continued attacks of the settlers, and the deployment of more checkpoints, paralysing the movement of citizens.”
Palestinian Foreign Ministry
Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian official from the Palestinian National Initiative party, also warned of “brutal massacres” against hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian.
He urged the international community to step in and prevent Israel’s planned attack on a southern “safe zone” in Gaza.
“Any military operations in Rafah – with its limited space and crowdedness with over 1.5 million Palestinians displaced by the Israeli army – would lead to brutal massacres unprecedented in modern history,” Barghouti stated.
Barghouti’s statement came after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced Rafah as the next target in Israel’s military operations.
The Israeli offensive has left 85 percent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
Ex-diplomat Cautions U.S To Be Careful In Push For Gaza Deal As Elections Near
Former U.S Diplomat, Thomas Pickering opined that Washington is walking a “tightrope” in its attempt to reach a truce and captives deal in Gaza, as Blinken visits the Middle East.
“We have an election coming up with voters who have friendships with both the Jewish community and the Arab community in the U.S – who are torn by this particular conflict,” he told a news agency.
“The Biden administration is attempting to maintain an equitable balance between the two,” he noted.
He added, “It has to be very careful. It’s like a tightrope walk.”
Arab American voters have been furious at Biden’s unwavering support for Israel.
The U.S administration has been opposing ceasefire calls as it pushes to secure more than $14bn in additional aid to Israel.
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