Blinken again in the Middle East, will there be a ceasefire in Gaza?

2024-03-20 09:42:53Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Blinken again in the Middle East, will there be a ceasefire in Gaza?
Antony Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be in the Middle East for the sixth time since the war in the Gaza Strip began, in an effort to secure a temporary pause in the fighting and the release of hostages.

The war between Israel and Hamas - the Palestinian group declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union - began on October 7, after an attack by the radical Palestinian group in southern Israel, which left nearly 1,200 people dead and nearly 250 kidnapped. others.

During this visit to the region, Blinken will meet with Saudi leaders in Jeddah and Egyptian leaders in Cairo to discuss talks being brokered by Egypt and Qatar to reach an agreement, but also to send more aid to Gaza. , said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Ceasefire talks are set to resume this week in Qatar, but weeks of tough negotiations have yet to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas that Washington hopes would ease the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza.

Blinken said he will discuss governance, security and development arrangements in Gaza after the war is over.

"Since January we have been doing a lot of work, separately with our Arab partners, and we will push these talks forward, but we will also discuss what is the right architecture for sustainable regional peace," Blinken said during a conference for the media in Manila, before heading to the Middle East.

As a result of Israel's ground and air offensive, almost 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza so far, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-run enclave.

Blinken has not planned to stay in Israel during this visit, a country he has visited several times since the start of the war in Gaza.

Tensions have risen between the administration of US President Joe Biden and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Tuesday rejected Biden's call for Israel not to go ahead with a planned ground attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where over 1 million displaced Palestinians are taking shelter./REL


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