In southern Lebanon, an airstrike killed one of the main commanders of Hezbollah, a group that supports Hamas. The killing raises fears of an intensifying conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Israel late last night, where he will meet with Israeli leaders and officials today and ask them to better protect civilians and provide more aid as the war in Gaza enters a new phase.
Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Saudi Arabian city of Al Uli on Monday as part of a Middle East tour aimed at building consensus on the future of Gaza.
He said key Arab countries and Turkey had agreed to begin planning for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza after the end of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Blinken also said the countries had agreed to use their influence to prevent the Gaza war from spreading into a larger Middle East conflict with negative consequences for international trade and the global economy.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey agreed to work together and “coordinate efforts to allow Gaza to stabilize and recover, prepare a political path for the Palestinians and work for long-term peace, security and stability in the region as a whole,” the US Secretary of State said, but did not specify how much their individual contributions would be.
He added that the Saudis and other Arab leaders are still interested in normalizing relations with Israel, but only on the basis of a sustainable Israeli-Palestinian political solution.
During his fourth visit to the Middle East in three months, Blinken will try to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to, among other things, begin serious negotiations on post-war Gaza.
The US Secretary of State added that the administration of US President Joseph Biden is also focused on the return of the remaining US and Israeli hostages in Gaza, agencies report.
The US has supported Israel since the start of the war against Hamas, but Netanyahu has drawn ire in Washington by rejecting any detailed public plan for managing Gaza after the Israeli military offensive ends, as well as the US option of creating a single Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Photo ©️ AFP
