US' Blinken meets Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, holds talks with Israeli Security Cabinet

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – With a possible expanded Gaza offensive looming, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv before talks with members of the Israeli Security Cabinet.

Netanyahu's office said in a statement that he met with Blinken in Tel Aviv ahead of a comprehensive meeting with members of the Security Cabinet.

No statement was issued by either party on the meetings, which came as Israel seems determined to launch an offensive into the last-ditch refuge Gaza refuge city of Rafah, even as the US and most of the rest of the world urge it not to.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported that scores of Israelis demonstrated near the hotel where Blinken was staying in Tel Aviv, demanding a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

Blinken arrived in Israel on Friday from Egypt on the third leg of a Middle East tour, the latest in such tours since last October, when Israel began its offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The visit is dominated by efforts to reach an agreement on a hostage swap deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, to establish a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, and discuss the risks of Israeli army's ground assault in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel has at least 9,100 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official Palestinian sources, while the total number of hostages held in Gaza ranges between 240 and 253, with three liberated and 105 released by Hamas during a November deal.

However, the Palestinian resistance group said 70 hostages were killed as a result of Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Blinken arrived in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Thursday for talks with Arab foreign ministers about a Gaza cease-fire.

A new round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas is underway in Doha, mediated by Qatar and Egypt and with the participation of the US, to reach a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

Nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and more than 74,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide, and guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul