US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and Jordan this week, the State Department announced, after the US and Israeli leaders discussed hostage-release talks.
Blinken will travel to both countries, a State Department official confirmed as the top US diplomat refuelled on Sunday in Ireland on his way to a previously announced stop in Saudi Arabia.
The trip was announced after US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone about continuing talks to halt Israel’s offensive in Gaza in return for the release of hostages.
Biden and Netanyahu speak as pressure grows on Israel over Rafah invasion
Biden and Netanyahu speak as pressure grows on Israel over Rafah invasion
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate a new truce between Israel and Hamas for months, as public pressure mounts for a deal.
Biden also reiterated concerns about Israel launching an operation in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than one million Palestinians have taken shelter.
The State Department did not immediately announce details of the two stops.
In a statement announcing the earlier Saudi stop, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken will work on ceasefire efforts but added: “It is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire.”
The meetings on Monday could be a final chance to persuade Israel to call off an attack on Rafah.
The White House said on Sunday that Israel has agreed to hear out its concerns. Israel has “assured us that they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and our concerns with them,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told ABC News. “So we’ll see where that goes.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged US President Joe Biden to intervene, telling a special edition of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh that the US “is the only country capable” of stopping an Israel invasion of Rafah.
Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reviewed the talks on a hostage release and a Gaza ceasefire during a call on Sunday, according to a White House statement. Biden also “reiterated his clear position” on Rafah.
A Hamas official said its delegation plans to respond to the latest Israeli truce plan on Monday, Agence France-Presse reported, offering another glimmer of hope as the Gaza conflict grinds toward the seven-month mark.
The US has urged Israel against a large-scale offensive in Rafah, which Israeli officials say is needed to crush the final stronghold of 5,000 to 8,000 fighters and key leaders from the Palestinian militant group. The small city on the coastal strip’s border with Egypt had a pre-war population of about 280,000 and is now crammed with more than a million refugees. There are fears of major civilian casualties if Israeli troops storm it. Israel has promised to move the civilians out, an uncertain process that could take weeks.
Israel has been waging a military campaign in Gaza to wipe out Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, the European Union and others, since it swept across the border and attacked Israeli communities and military bases on October 7.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg