By Ahmed Asmar
ANKARA (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday morning departed Israel after meeting with top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to discuss the possibilities of ending the war in Gaza.
According to media reports, Blinken is heading to Saudi Arabia to meet with top officials.
He told reporters while preparing to leave for Saudi Arabia that "there are two things left to do, get the hostages home and bring the war to an end with an understanding of what will follow."
While citing Israeli steps taken to ensure bringing aid to Palestinians in Gaza, Blinken, however, said Israel needs to do more to allow aid into Gaza.
Commenting on Israeli plans to vacate Palestinians from northern Gaza, he stressed that the US rejects any reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.
As of Oct. 5, the Israeli army stepped up its massive assault in northern Gaza amid a suffocating siege that has left tens of thousands of people without food and water.
Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed over Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.
Regional tensions have escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 42,700 people, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack last year.
As the conflict spread to Lebanon with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country, nearly 2,500 people have been killed and more than 11,500 others injured in Israeli attacks since last year, according to Lebanese health authorities.
Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground assault into southern Lebanon.