Gaza
France: Not in the room where it happened, but proud anyway
“The Franco-Saudi initiative, along with the New York Declaration endorsed by 142 states, created decisive momentum and paved the way for the peace plan signed today.”
U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken will depart on Thursday for a week of diplomacy on Israel’s war in Gaza, visiting Israel and the West Bank, as well as Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Saul Loeb/Pool via Reuters
U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken will depart on Thursday for a week of diplomacy on Israel’s war in Gaza, visiting Israel and the West Bank, as well as Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt over the next week, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
The visit comes amid heightened concerns the nearly three-month-old conflict is spreading beyond Gaza, drawing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, and Red Sea shipping lanes.
Blinken will discuss specific steps parties in the region can take to prevent the conflict from expanding, Miller said at a regular press briefing.
"It is in no one's interest - not Israel's, not the region's, not the world's - for this conflict to spread beyond Gaza," Miller said.
Blinken would also discuss immediate measures to increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza and efforts to bring home remaining hostages taken by Hamas, Miller added.
Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
“The Franco-Saudi initiative, along with the New York Declaration endorsed by 142 states, created decisive momentum and paved the way for the peace plan signed today.”
Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday under a ceasefire deal and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees, as U.S. President Donald Trump declared the end of the two-year long war that has upended the broader Middle East.
Ahead of a high-level international summit on the Gaza ceasefire, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump is “the only one capable of bringing peace” to the region.
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