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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his latest mission to rein in the Gaza war, told Israeli leaders on Tuesday there was still a chance of winning acceptance from their Arab neighbours, if they 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.
His talks would include a meeting with the Israeli war cabinet formed in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks by Palestinian militants from Hamas, which rules Gaza, that Israel says killed 1,200 people.
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 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on the “absolute imperative” to do more to protect Gaza’s civilians and allow humanitarian aid to reach them. His boss, President Joe Biden, said overnight that Washington was quietly pushing Israel to begin withdrawing some of its forces.
Blinken’s meetings around the region have focused on trying to chart 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 integration with Israel – a long-term Israeli aim – but only if that included a “practical pathway” to a Palestinian state.
“I know of your own efforts, over many years, to build much greater connectivity and integration in the Middle East, and 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.”
After weeks of U.S. pressure to tamp down its assault, Israel says its forces are transitioning from full-blown warfare to a more targeted campaign in the northern half of Gaza, while still maintaining intensive combat in southern areas.
It said troops had killed around 40 Palestinian fighters and raided a militant compound and tunnel shafts since Monday during expanded operations in Khan Younis in the south.
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 already badly overstretched Al Aqsa hospital in the centre of the 45 km (28 mile) 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 on Gaza to be scaled back.
The U.N. humanitarian office OCHA said that “as casualties rise, the ability to treat them continues to be in jeopardy”.
It said three hospitals in central Gaza and Khan Younis, including Al Aqsa, were “at risk of closure due to the issuance of evacuation orders in nearby areas and the ongoing conduct of hostilities nearby”.