US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday for another Middle East crisis trip, aiming to achieve a new cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict as fighting continued in Gaza.
Blinken arrived in Riyadh for his fifth journey to the area since Hamas’ October 7 strike, which sparked the war, and was scheduled to visit Israel, Egypt, and Qatar.
He emphasized the necessity for “urgently addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza” ahead of the trip, after relief agencies repeatedly sounded the alarm about the terrible impact almost four months of war have had on the beleaguered enclave.
“The situation is indescribable,” said Said Hamouda, a Palestinian who fled his home in the Gaza Strip to the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border.
Rafah, dubbed a “pressure cooker of despair” by the United Nations, currently houses more than half of Gaza’s population, which has been displaced as a result of Israel’s onslaught.
Over the weekend, Israel pushed further south toward the densely populated border city, saying that ground soldiers could approach Rafah as part of the mission to eliminate Hamas.
On Monday morning, sources told AFP that they could hear artillery fire in eastern Rafah and Khan Yunis, where Israel believes high-ranking Hamas officials hide.
According to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled area, Israeli attacks killed at least 128 individuals, the majority of whom were women and children, overnight and Monday.
According to the Hamas government’s media office, Israeli shelling continued in the center and south of the coastal Strip, especially near hospitals.
The Israeli military reported that troops operating in the northern and central Gaza Strip had “killed dozens of terrorists” and were fighting Hamas militants in the Khan Yunis area.
Hamas’ armed wing claimed its members attacked Israeli troops southwest of Gaza City.
No Agreement Yet
Blinken is scheduled to discuss a planned truce reached during a January summit in Paris of top US, Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatari officials.
The diplomatic campaign has become more critical as Iran-backed forces in sympathy with Hamas launch attacks across the region, prompting counterattacks by the US.
According to a Hamas source, the planned truce would put an end to fighting for six weeks while Hamas releases hostages in exchange for Palestinian captives held by Israel.
Hamas has stated that no agreement has yet been struck, and certain Israeli officials have indicated hostility to any perceived concessions.
The war was precipitated by Hamas’ extraordinary October 7 onslaught on Israel, which killed around 1,160 people, largely civilians, according to an AFP tally based on government data.
Militants also took approximately 250 captives. According to current numbers from Israel’s prime minister’s office, 132 people remain in Gaza, with at least 28 believed dead.
Israel launched a massive military attack in Gaza, vowing to eradicate Hamas, killing at least 27,478 people, the majority of them were women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
Gazans have suffered grave humanitarian conditions, and UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, stated on social networking platform X that “there is very limited access to clean water and sanitation amid relentless bombardment”.
UNRWA is embroiled in a huge scandal following allegations that 12 staff members were involved in Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Following the allegations, more than a dozen countries, led by the United States, halted financing for the organization.
On Sunday, EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell warned that governments that cut financing to UNRWA were endangering the agency’s ability to provide “vital aid to more than 1.1 million people in Gaza suffering from catastrophic hunger and the outbreak of diseases”.
Humanitarian Crisis
Before traveling for the region, Blinken stated that the humanitarian crisis would be one of his priorities.
“We share priorities with Saudi Arabia, including urgently addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza and advancing Middle Eastern stability,” Blinken told Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan.
Prior to the war, the Gulf state considered establishing formal relations with Israel.
Following conversations with de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in January, Blinken stated that there was still a “clear interest” in pursuing normalization.
Blinken’s latest Middle East travel comes as Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, warned the Wall Street Journal that its crucial ally has not provided adequate help.
“Instead of giving us his full support, (US President Joe) Biden is busy giving humanitarian aid and fuel (to Gaza), which goes to Hamas,” he stated in an article published on Sunday.
His reaction came after Washington imposed penalties on four settlers amid growing violence against Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Ben-Gvir, saying, “I don’t need help to navigate our relations with the United States and the international community while remaining firm on our national interests.”
In addition to splits within his government, Netanyahu is facing public outrage over the fate of the other hostages.
On Saturday, hundreds of people marched in Tel Aviv to demand early elections.
Since the Gaza war began, Israel has swapped almost daily missile fire with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah over its northern border with Lebanon, evacuating many cities and residents there.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Monday that “time is running out” to find a diplomatic settlement in south Lebanon.
“Israel will act militarily to return the evacuated citizens” to its northern border area if no diplomatic solution is reached to cease the bloodshed, Katz told his visiting French counterpart Stephane Sejourne.