U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that he met with officials from Arab states and discussed the future of the Gaza Strip, as Israel resumed its assault after a week-long truce with Palestinian Hamas militants broke down.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken © Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that he met with officials from Arab states and discussed the future of the Gaza Strip, as Israel resumed its assault after a week-long truce with Palestinian Hamas militants broke down.
Before boarding a plane at the end of his third trip to the region since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killed more than 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, Blinken said the talks on Friday focused on the current situation in Gaza, the day after the conflict, and how to create a "durable, lasting and secure peace."
A senior State Department official said Blinken met foreign ministers from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, alongside representatives of the Palestinian Authority, on the sidelines of the COP28 UN climate conference in Dubai.
Hamas handed over some of its last surviving Israeli hostages on Monday, a key step in ending two years of devastating conflict in Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who landed in Israel to address the parliament.
Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s outgoing Foreign Minister, took to X Sunday to claim France “opened the way” for the U.S. peace plan in Gaza, securing hostage releases and a ceasefire.
The release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza is expected to begin early Monday morning, according to Shosh Bedrosian, spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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