As US Secretary of State Antrony Blinken is set to visit Israel on Monday, a Hamas official called upon the US to pressure Israel into ending the war.
REUTERS JUNE 10, 2024 09:54
Updated: JUNE 10, 2024 10:55
A senior Hamas official urged the United States on Monday to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza, ahead of the planned visit on Monday by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region to push forward ceasefire efforts.
Blinken is set to visit Egypt and Israel on Monday. He also aims to ensure the war does not expand into Lebanon.
“We call upon the US administration to put pressure on the occupation to stop the war on Gaza, and the Hamas movement is ready to deal positively with any initiative that secures an end to the war,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.
In his eighth visit to the region since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering the bloodiest episode in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Blinken is also set to travel to Jordan and Qatar this week.
He is set to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo before traveling to Israel later on Monday, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a State Department schedule.
US SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this week. The US administration still, with messianic devotion, thinks that the establishment of a Palestinian state must be diligently pursued post haste via pressure on Israel, the writer charges. (credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)
Israel goes deeper into Gaza
On Monday, Palestinian residents said tanks had been trying to thrust deeper towards the north in the early hours of Monday, edging Shaboura, one of the most densely populated and terror stronghold neighborhoods at the heart of the city.
Israeli tank forces have since seized Gaza’s entire border strip with Egypt running through Rafah to the Mediterranean coast and invaded many districts of the city of 280,000 residents, prompting around one million displaced people who had been sheltering in Rafah to evacuate.
Blinken’s visit comes after US President Joe Biden on May 31 outlined a three-phase ceasefire proposal from Israel that envisions a permanent end to hostilities, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
The Hamas October 7 massacre killed 1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage, according to Israeli tallies. In response, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, the Hamas-run health ministry said in its Sunday update.
Content retrieved from: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-805667.