Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel and Jordan on Wednesday, the day after his participation in a summit in Saudi Arabia dedicated to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the US State Department announced on Sunday.
This tour was announced after a telephone exchange between the President of the United States Joe Biden and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the ongoing talks to stop the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of the hostages, detained since the attack on October 7.
Efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza
Antony Blinken will visit Israel as well as Jordan, the State Department said, without further details, at a time when the plane of the top American diplomat was being refueled in Ireland, en route to Saudi Arabia where it will stop Monday and Tuesday.
In Riyadh, a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is being held dedicated to efforts to obtain a ceasefire in Gaza allowing the release of the hostages.
The State Department did not immediately provide details on Wednesday’s two steps.
International pressure for a truce
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying for months to mediate a new truce between Israel and Hamas, with pressure for such an agreement growing.
The American president reiterated that he was concerned that Israel would launch a ground operation on the town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip where more than a million Palestinians have found refuge.
In a statement announcing the Saudi leg of Antony Blinken’s tour, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken would work on ceasefire efforts but added: “It’s Hamas who stands between the Palestinian people and the ceasefire.”
