US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday (18) for a trip to the Middle East aimed at stepping up diplomatic pressure to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza this week and end the bloodshed between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
On his 10th trip to the region since the war began in October, Blinken will meet on Monday (19) with senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a State Department official said.
Negotiations to reach a deal for a truce and the return of hostages held in Gaza were now at an “inflection point,” a Biden administration official told reporters en route to Tel Aviv, adding that the secretary of state would emphasize to all parties the importance of seeing the deal through.
“We believe this is a critical moment.”
The mediating countries — Qatar, the United States and Egypt — have so far failed to reach an agreement in months of on-and-off negotiations, and the bloodshed continued unabated in Gaza on Sunday.
An attack killed at least 21 peopleincluding six children, in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian health officials said.
The children and their mother were killed in an Israeli air strike on a home in the central city of Deir Al-Balah, health officials said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The military said it destroyed rocket launchers used to target Israel from the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks, and killed 20 Palestinian militants.
Egypt
Ceasefire talks are set to continue this week in Cairo after a two-day meeting in Doha last week. Blinken will try to make progress after the United States put forward bridge proposals that mediating countries believe would bridge the gap between the warring parties.
There is growing urgency to reach a ceasefire agreement amid fears of escalation across the region. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
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*Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Ramadan Abed, Jaida Taha and Maytaal Angel
