By MATTHEW LEE, WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY, Associated Press
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed forward with a diplomatic tour of the Middle East on Tuesday, assembly Egyptian and Qatari leaders as a part of his efforts to safe a cease-fire within the Israel-Hamas conflict in trade for the discharge of hostages.
Blinken’s go to additionally comes amid rising considerations in Egypt about Israel’s said intentions to increase the fight in Gaza to areas on the Egyptian border which can be full of displaced Palestinians.
Israel’s protection minister has stated his nation’s offensive will ultimately attain the city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border, the place greater than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million folks have sought refuge and at the moment are dwelling in more and more depressing situations.
U.N. humanitarian displays stated Tuesday that Israeli evacuation orders now cowl two-thirds of Gaza’s territory, driving hundreds extra folks each day towards the border areas.
Egypt has warned that an Israeli deployment alongside the border would threaten the peace treaty the 2 international locations signed over 4 a long time in the past. Egypt fears an enlargement of fight to the Rafah space might push terrified Palestinian civilians throughout the border, a state of affairs Egypt has stated it’s decided to stop.
Blinken, who met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo, has stated repeatedly that Palestinians should not be compelled out of Gaza.
Later on Tuesday, he traveled to Qatar and met with that nation’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
During this journey, Blinken is in search of progress on a cease-fire deal, on potential normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and on stopping an escalation of regional combating.
On all three fronts, Blinken faces main challenges. Hamas and Israel are publicly at odds over key components of a possible truce. Israel has dismissed the United States’ requires a path to a Palestinian state, and Iran’s militant allies within the area have proven little signal of being deterred by U.S. strikes.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Egypt and Qatar have been attempting to mediate an settlement between Israel and Hamas that may result in the discharge of extra hostages in return for a several-week pause in Israeli navy operations. The outlines of such a deal had been labored out by intelligence chiefs from the U.S., Egypt, Qatar and Israel late final month and have been introduced to Hamas, which has not but formally responded.
U.S. officers stated Blinken hopes to get an replace on Hamas’ response to the proposal. Blinken will then journey to Israel to transient Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet on Wednesday about what he heard from the Arab leaders.
As on his earlier 4 journeys to the Mideast for the reason that Gaza conflict started, Blinken’s different fundamental objective is to stop the battle from spreading, a activity made harder by stepped-up assaults by Iran-backed militias within the area and more and more extreme U.S. navy responses in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Red Sea which have intensified since final week.
Blinken met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday night, shortly after arriving within the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Saudi officers have stated the dominion remains to be curious about normalizing relations with Israel in a doubtlessly historic deal, however provided that there’s a credible plan to create a Palestinian state.
Any such grand discount seems a good distance off because the conflict nonetheless rages in Gaza.
The Palestinian demise toll from almost 4 months of conflict has reached 27,585, based on the Health Ministry within the Hamas-run territory, with 107 our bodies delivered to hospitals over the previous day. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its depend however says many of the useless have been girls and kids.
The conflict has leveled huge swaths of the tiny enclave and pushed 1 / 4 of residents to hunger.
Israel has vowed to proceed the conflict till it crushes Hamas’ navy and governing talents and wins the return of the 100-plus hostages nonetheless held by the group.
Hamas and different militants killed some 1,200 folks, largely civilians, within the Oct. 7 assault that ignited the conflict and kidnapped round 250. More than 100 captives, largely girls and kids, had been launched throughout a weeklong cease-fire in November in trade for the discharge of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The Israeli navy stated Tuesday it was battling fighters in areas throughout the Gaza Strip, together with the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, the place it stated troops killed dozens of militants over the previous day.
An Israeli airstrike within the metropolis hit an house constructing, killing two dad and mom and 4 of their 5 kids, based on the kids’s grandfather.
Mahmoud al-Khatib stated his 41-year-old son, Tariq, was sleeping alongside together with his household when an Israeli warplane bombed their house in the midst of the night time. The Israeli navy not often feedback on particular person strikes however blames Hamas for civilians deaths, saying the group embeds in civilian areas.
U.N. humanitarian displays stated Tuesday that Israel’s evacuation orders within the Gaza Strip now cowl two-thirds of the territory, or 95 sq. miles. The affected space was house to 1.78 million Palestinians, or 77% of Gaza’s inhabitants, earlier than the conflict.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, stated in its day by day report that the newly displaced have solely about 1.5 to 2 liters (50 to 67 ounces) of water per day to drink, cook dinner and wash. It additionally reported a major enhance in continual diarrhea amongst kids.
Parents of infants face a very tough problem due to the excessive price or lack of diapers, child components and milk.
Zainab Al-Zein, who’s sheltering within the central city of Deir al-Balah, stated she needed to feed her 2.5-month-old daughter stable meals, corresponding to biscuits and floor rice, properly forward of the standard 6-month mark as a result of milk and components weren’t out there.
“This is known, of course, as unhealthy eating, and we know that it causes her intestinal distress, bloating and colic,” al-Zein stated. “As you can see, 24 hours like this, she cries and cries continuously.”
Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”