Blinken's new mission in the Middle East, the plan does not include a stop in Israel

2024-03-20 14:53:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Blinken's new mission in the Middle East, the plan does not include a stop

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a mission to the Middle East on Wednesday, at a time of tension in relations between the administration of President Joe Biden and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, residents of northern Gaza City said the fighting around Al Shifa hospital was the most intense in months. Israel said it had killed 90 gunmen. Hamas denied having fighters present at the hospital and said the dead were civilians.

Mr. Blinken goes to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Cairo on Thursday to talk with regional leaders about efforts to secure a ceasefire.

In Saudi Arabia, he is expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. His travel announcement made no mention of a stop in Israel, something unusual. Israel's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had not received any notification of a visit by Mr Blinken. A US State Department official did not immediately respond to a question about whether a stop in Israel might be added to the itinerary.

Secretary of State Blinken has visited Israel on each of his five visits to the region since the war began. In recent days, the fighting in the northern parts of Gaza has intensified.

They include fighting around Al Shifa, once Gaza's largest hospital and currently one of the few operating in the north.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday rejected President Biden's call to cancel plans for a ground assault on Rafah, the city on the southern edge of Gaza that is home to more than half of the enclave's 2.3 million residents.

Mr. Netanyahu told lawmakers that he had made it "very clear" to Mr. Biden in a phone call "that we are determined to complete the elimination of the battalions in Rafah and this cannot be accomplished except by going into the field."

Israel says Rafah is the last major base of armed fighters from Hamas. Washington says a ground attack there would be "wrong" and cause grave consequences among civilians.

Rafah is home to more than a million Gazans who were ordered there by Israeli forces at the start of the war. Israel says it has a plan to evacuate them but it is not clear where./ Voa