US Secretary of State Blinken to arrive in Israel on Sunday

By Anadolu staff

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday to push for a cease-fire agreement, reported Israeli media.

Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation said that Blinken’s expected visit is the ninth of its kind since Israel waged its deadly war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.

During his visit, Blinken is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials to discuss the cease-fire negotiations and broader regional concerns, it added.

Those talks were followed by an announcement by mediators on Friday that two days of negotiations in Doha had concluded, during which a new proposal was presented to Hamas and Israel to narrow the gaps between them.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed nearly 40,100 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,500, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi