US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to Israel Friday as part of an intensive diplomatic push to reach a “sustained and immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and deter an Israeli offensive into Rafah.
The stop in Tel Aviv will cap Blinken’s sixth round of shuttle diplomacy in the region since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. He is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli war cabinet as the stakes around the ongoing war mount.
Blinken’s travel to Israel Friday coincides with the resumption of talks in Doha aimed at securing a deal for a ceasefire tied to the release of the hostages held by Hamas as well as a vote at the UN on a US-sponsored Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza conflict.
Relations between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government have frayed in recent weeks, and domestic US frustrations about the war continue to mount. Partisan divides have grown on Capitol Hill, exemplified by Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s call last week for an election in Israel and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday stating his intention to invite Netanyahu to address Congress.
Blinken’s meetings are expected to be tense with Netanyahu vowing to carry out an Israeli military incursion into Rafah, where more than a million Gazans have been forced to flee, despite US and international criticism of such a plan.
“Our position, which is very clear, is that a major military operation in Rafah would be a mistake, something we don’t support,” Blinken reiterated at a press conference Thursday. “There is no place for the many civilians who are massed … in Rafah … to go to get out of harm’s way. And for those that would inevitably remain, it would be a humanitarian…
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