Senior US – Sejourne was expected to hold talks in Riyadh with ministers from Arab and other Western countries and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“Things are moving forward but you must always be careful in these discussions and negotiations. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic and we need a ceasefire,” Sejourne told Reuters on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting.
In Riyadh, he is expected to meet senior Saudi leaders and also hold a broader meeting with his counterparts from five Arab states (Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan) to discuss what the governance of the Strip will look like. from Gaza later. The war between Israel and Hamas ends, according to a senior State Department official. Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the first stop on a broader trip to the Middle East.
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Blinken is also expected to bring together Arab & European countries and discuss how Europe can help reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip, which has been reduced to a wasteland following a six-month Israeli bombardment.
Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli counts.
Israel retaliated by imposing a full siege on Gaza & then launched an air and ground attack that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Blinken will also discuss with Saudi authorities efforts for a normalization agreement between the kingdom and Israel, an agreement that includes Washington granting Riyadh agreements on bilateral defense and security commitments, as well as nuclear cooperation.Senior US
The United States agrees with Israel’s goal that Hamas must be eradicated and cannot play a role in Gaza’s future, but Washington does not want Israel to reoccupy the enclave.
Instead, it has been seeking a structure that includes a reformed Palestinian Authority – which exercises limited self-government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank – with the support of Arab states.Senior US
In exchange for normalization, Arab states and Washington are pushing for Israel to accept a path to the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected. From Riyadh, Blinken will head to Jordan and Israel and the focus of the trip will be on efforts to improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed at least 20 Palestinians and wounded many others, doctors said on Monday, as Egyptian and Qatari mediators were expected to hold a new round of talks. ceasefire talks with Hamas leaders in Cairo.
An attack on Rafah, which Israel says is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza, has been anticipated for weeks, but foreign governments and the United Nations have expressed concern that such an action could result in a humanitarian disaster given the number of displaced people. overcrowded in the area.Senior US