US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the first stop on his tour of the Middle East to try to reach a new ceasefire in the deadly fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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Mr Blinken, whose country is Israel's main supporter, is making his fifth trip to the region since the war began on October 7. After Riyadh he has to go to Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the occupied West Bank.
As the war that has devastated the Palestinian territory enters its fifth month on Wednesday, 128 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, were killed in 24 hours, Hamas' health ministry announced.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has accused the Israeli army of a sea attack on a food aid convoy that was preparing to enter the northern Gaza Strip.
A “fatal blow”
The army, for its part, said it carried out “targeted raids” in the north and center of the territory and “killed dozens of terrorists who set up ambushes” in Khan Younes, the large southern Gaza city that provides shelter, according to Israel , leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
The attacks also targeted Rafah in the territory's far south, a city of 270,000 before the war where more than 1.3 million people who fled the fighting are now crowded in desperate conditions, according to the United Nations .
The crowded city on the closed border with Egypt could be the next target of Israel, which says it wants to “destroy” the Islamist movement, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
The war broke out on October 7 after an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza that killed more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli data.
In response, Israel launched a military offensive that killed 27,478 people in the Gaza Strip, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a “total victory” by the army in Gaza would deal a “fatal blow” to Hamas, but also to Iran and its allies.
American frustration
At the same time, negotiations continue on a second ceasefire, following the week-long ceasefire at the end of November that allowed the release of around a hundred hostages held in Gaza and 240 Palestinians detained by Israel.
According to Israel, about 250 people were kidnapped on October 7 and 132 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 28 of whom are believed to have died.
During his trip, Mr. Blinken will support the project drawn up by Qatari, American and Egyptian mediators in Paris in late January, which still needs to be approved by Hamas and Israel.
The United States continues to support “Israel’s right to defend itself” but shows growing frustration with its ally.
In Israel, Mr. Blinken will push for an increase in the amount of food, water and medicine entering the Gaza Strip. The area, hit by a serious humanitarian crisis, has been under complete siege since October 9 by Israel, which controls the flow of aid.
According to a Hamas source, the proposal currently on the table involves a six-week ceasefire in which Israel must release 200 to 300 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 35 to 40 hostages held in Gaza, and 200 to 300 aid trucks will be able to do so every day Enter area.
Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, has called for a complete ceasefire. Which Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to do, despite pressure from the families of the hostages who are demanding the release of their loved ones.
“Hamas has demands that we will not accept,” Netanyahu said on Monday, adding that the terms of any possible deal “must be similar” to the agreement before the ceasefire in November.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Monday the creation of an independent committee responsible for assessing the “neutrality” of UNRWA. Israel said it would prove UNRWA's “links to terrorism.”
Several donor countries recently stopped funding the organization after Israel raised allegations that several of its employees were involved in the October 7 attack.
Meeting at the UN
The war in Gaza has raised renewed tensions in the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority accuses extremist settlers of deadly violence against Palestinians.
“The settler violence must stop,” said French diplomatic chief Stéphane Séjourné during a visit to Israel on Monday. “There can be no forced displacement of Palestinians under any circumstances, either outside the Gaza Strip or outside the West Bank,” he added after meeting Mr. Netanyahu.
The U.N. Security Council is also meeting on Monday at Russia's request following American strikes in Iraq and Syria in response to the Jan. 28 attack on an American base in Jordan, which Washington attributes to pro-Iranian groups, including three Americans Soldiers were killed.