GAZA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his latest mission to rein in the Gaza war, told Israeli leaders on Tuesday to create a path to a viable Palestinian state.
On his fourth trip to the region since October in a so far largely fruitless quest to tamp down the violence, Blinken said he would share what he had heard in two days of talks with Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Blinken met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was then due to speak with members of the war cabinet formed in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, destroyed much of Gaza and displaced most of the population of 2.3 million at least once, creating a dramatic and worsening humanitarian crisis.
Blinken had already said he would press Israel on the "absolute imperative" to do more to protect Gaza's civilians and allow humanitarian aid to reach them.
President Joe Biden, said overnight that Washington was quietly pushing Israel to begin withdrawing some forces.
Blinken's meetings around the region have focused on seeking a longer-term approach to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict, as part of a path toward ending the Gaza war. After his meetings with Arab allies, he said they wanted to include a "practical pathway" to a Palestinian state.
"I think there are actually real opportunities there," he told his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz on Tuesday.
"But we have to get through this very challenging moment and ensure that October 7 can never happen again and work to build a much different and much better future."
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said 57 Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes and 65 wounded had arrived in the past 24 hours at the Al Aqsa hospital in the centre of the 45 km-long Gaza Strip.
The vast humanitarian crisis has put pressure in particular on the United States, Israel's closest ally, to press for the assault to be scaled back.
Biden, confronted on Monday by protesters shouting "Ceasefire now!" while visiting a church in South Carolina, said he had been "quietly" working to encourage Israel to ease its attacks and "significantly get out of Gaza".
Israel's relentless bombardment and its restrictions on humanitarian access to Gaza have prompted South Africa to file a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians. Hearings begin on Thursday. — Reuters
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