US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his envoy have reached out to Palestinian and regional Arab leaders as attacks between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers raged on.
Blinken is maintaining what the administration of US President Joe Biden is calling its quiet diplomacy while still declining to press for an immediate ceasefire.
Speaking during an unrelated trip focusing on Russia and Nordic countries, Blinken also defended the US decision to block what would have been a unanimous UN Security Council statement on the fighting and its civilian toll, and the overall US approach to the worst Israeli-Palestinian fighting since 2014.
Biden, speaking to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, expressed general support for a ceasefire but stopped short of joining dozens of Democratic members of Congress in demanding one.
“Our goal remains to bring the current cycle of violence to an end” and then return to a process in which a lasting peace can be forged, the US diplomat said.
Blinken said he had spoken to the foreign ministers of Morocco and Bahrain, two Arab countries that have recently moved to normalise relations with Israel, while US envoy Hady Amr in Israel spoke with Palestinian National Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.
The ongoing US outreach – reflecting an administration that has emphasised working with allies, and has refrained from publicly criticising ally Israel – came as new Hamas rockets and Israeli air strikes continued for a ninth day. At least 213 Palestinians and 12 people in Israel have died. Efforts by Egypt and others to mediate a truce have stalled.
Oxfam warned yesterday that it cannot reach around 450,000 or more people in Gaza because of fighting and aerial bombardment. The international agency should be providing support including food, clean water and sanitation but the bombing is making it too dangerous for anyone to leave their homes. Oxfam staff are trying to resume their humanitarian work with its network of partners but the destruction and indiscriminate threat to life makes any emergency aid, at the moment, impossible to mount.
Authorities estimate that 40% of Gaza’s water wells and pumping stations have been affected by the bombing. People are struggling to secure cash or income to buy food, water, and medicines.
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