The US Secretary of State is expected to discuss a truce agreement, the exchange of hostages and prisoners, among other topics.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a tour of the Middle East holding talks in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, hoping to secure a ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza.
Blinken will meet with Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official in Cairo on Thursday, according to a note from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, as he pushes for a truce between Israel and Hamas in the famine-ridden Gaza Strip. spreading amid growing warnings of impending famine.
The note did not give details on the topic of the meeting, but Egyptian security sources cited by Reuters news agency said Arab nations would present plans for a political solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Those plans were put on hold as mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States sought to reach an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
After arriving in Saudi Arabia, Blinken met with Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, and was expected to hold talks with ruling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Blinken is on his sixth trip to the Middle East since Israel's war on Gaza began on October 7. He has said that he will continue talks on agreements for the governance, security and redevelopment of Gaza after the conflict, and for lasting regional peace during his tour. .
Talks for a ceasefire agreement continued in Qatar this week after failed attempts to reach an agreement before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Qatari officials said they were “cautiously optimistic” after talks with Israel's intelligence chief in Doha, although Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, in southern Gaza, would delay any talks.
There are currently approximately 1.5 million internally displaced Palestinians sheltered in Rafah, where camps are severely overcrowded and disease is rampant amid a lack of basic supplies, food and medicine.
The imminent invasion of Rafah
The United States Department of State announced that Blinken will conclude his tour with a visit to Israel.
“In Israel, Secretary Blinken will discuss with Israeli government leaders the ongoing negotiations to secure the release of all hostages,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
“He will discuss the need to ensure the defeat of Hamas, including in Rafah, in a way that protects the civilian population, does not impede the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and advances Israel's overall security.”
Tensions between the United States and Israel over the prosecution of the Gaza attack have been rising for months due to rising civilian casualties. More than 31,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials. A United Nations food agency warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said he will ignore warnings from President Joe Biden not to launch a large-scale ground operation in Rafah without credible plans to protect innocent Palestinians. He said preparations are underway, but an operation “will take some time.”
Biden, who faces a tough re-election campaign ahead of November's presidential election, is under growing domestic pressure to curb Israel's military response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. Opposition to the war in the United States, Arab nations and much of the rest of the world has shaped the evolution of Blinken's frequent trips to the region since October.
In a phone call with Biden on Monday, the first in more than a month, Netanyahu agreed to send a high-level delegation to Washington to discuss plans for the proposed Rafah operation, and the Pentagon said Tuesday that the Israeli defense minister , Yoav Gallant, would visit Israel. the American capital next week.
