US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Israel today, Friday, to hold a meeting expected to be dominated by tension with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken, coming from Cairo on the last leg of his sixth tour in the Middle East, is expected to stress the urgent need to increase humanitarian aid entering the devastated Strip and to urge Israel to refrain from invading Rafah, which is crowded with displaced people at the closed border with Egypt.
“Conducting a major military operation in Rafah would be a mistake, and it is something we do not support… and it is also not necessary to deal with Hamas, which is necessary,” Blinken said Thursday in Cairo, where he met with senior diplomats from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Press.
Instead, Blinken will present Netanyahu with alternatives for dealing with Hamas in Rafah in discussions that will continue next week when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and a separate delegation of senior Israeli officials visit Washington.
Netanyahu agreed to send the delegation in a phone call on Monday with US President Joe Biden, their first conversation in a month, amid widening divisions.
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