US secretary of state arrives in Jordan for Gaza cease-fire talks

By Anadolu staff

AMMAN, Jordan (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Jordan on Tuesday on the second leg of a regional tour for talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken is expected to meet with King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi during his visit, according to an Anadolu reporter.

The chief diplomat visited Saudi Arabia on Monday on the first top of his tour and he is expected to visit Israel after Jordan.

On Monday, Blinken told the World Economic Forum in Riyadh that Israel gave Hamas a "generous" offer to release the Israeli captives, which could potentially lead to a cease-fire in Gaza.

The new offer includes Israel’s willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza after an initial release of hostages on humanitarian grounds, two Israeli officials told Axios news website.

Hamas is expected to deliver its response to the truce proposal later this week.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and thousands of others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.