US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Cairo on Tuesday for a meeting with Egyptian leaders that US officials said would focus primarily on the task of negotiating a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in exchange for the release of hostages held by the militants. .
Blinken’s visit also comes amid growing concern in Egypt about Israel’s stated intention to expand the fighting in Gaza into an area on the Egyptian border teeming with displaced Palestinians.
Israel’s defense minister said the Israeli offensive would eventually reach the city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have sought refuge and live in increasingly deplorable conditions.
UN humanitarian monitors said on Tuesday that Israel’s evacuation order now covers two-thirds of the Gaza Strip, driving thousands of people daily to the border area.
Egypt has warned that Israeli settlements along the border would threaten the peace treaty the two countries signed four decades ago.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he disembarks upon arrival at Cairo East Airport in Cairo on February 6, 2024. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Egypt fears an extension of the fighting to the Rafah area could push terrified Palestinian civilians across the border, a scenario Egypt says it is determined to prevent.
Blinken, who met Tuesday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, has repeatedly said that Palestinians cannot be forced out of Gaza.
During his latest trip, Blinken was looking for progress on a ceasefire agreement, on the potential normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and to prevent an escalation of regional fighting.
Palestinian children wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen amid food shortages, as the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 5, 2024. REUTERS
In all three areas, Blinken faces great challenges. Hamas and Israel are openly at odds over key elements of a potential ceasefire.
Israel has rejected US calls for passage to a Palestinian state, and Iran’s militant ally in the region has shown little sign of being deterred by US strikes.
Egypt — along with Qatar, where Blinken will be later Tuesday — has tried to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas that would lead to the release of more hostages in return for a weeks-long pause in Israeli military operations.
Smoke is seen rising above a building in Khan Yunis following Israeli bombing on February 5, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
The outline of such a deal was worked out by intelligence chiefs from the US, Egypt, Qatar and Israel late last month and was presented to Hamas, which has yet to formally respond.
US officials said Blinken hoped to get an update on Hamas’ response to the proposal in Cairo and Doha. Blinken will then travel to Israel to brief Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet on Wednesday on what he heard from Arab leaders.
As in his four previous trips to the Middle East since the Gaza war began, Blinken’s other main goal was to prevent the conflict from spreading, a task made exponentially more difficult by increasing attacks by Iran-backed militias in the region and the worsening US military. . reactions in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Red Sea that have been escalating since last week.
People search for survivors in the rubble of the Abu Saleh family home in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 5, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
Blinken met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday evening, shortly after arriving in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Saudi officials say the kingdom is still interested in normalizing relations with Israel in a potentially historic deal, but only if there is a credible plan to create a Palestinian state.
Blinken “stressed the importance of addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza and preventing the further spread of conflict,” and he and the crown prince discussed “the importance of building a more integrated and prosperous region,” the State Department said in a statement.
An Israeli F-16 fighter jet flies south of Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from Israel, February 5, 2024. REUTERS
But any such grand offer seems remote as the war is still raging in Gaza.
The death toll of Palestinians as a result of the nearly four-month war has reached 27,478, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-controlled territory. The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its count but said most of the dead were women and children.
The war has flattened large areas of the tiny enclave and driven a quarter of the population to starvation.
UN humanitarian monitors said on Tuesday that Israel’s evacuation order in the Gaza Strip now covers two-thirds of the territory, or 246 square 95 square miles.
The affected area was home to 1.78 million Palestinians, or 77% of Gaza’s population, before the October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas that sparked the war.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said in its daily report that the newly displaced have only about 1.5-2 liters (50-67 ounces) of water a day for drinking, cooking and washing. It also reported a significant increase in chronic diarrhea among children.
Parents of babies face very difficult challenges due to the high cost or lack of diapers, baby formula and milk.
Zainab Al-Zein, who took refuge in the central city of Deir al-Balah, said she had to give her 2.5-month-old daughter solid food, such as biscuits and milled rice, much earlier than the usual 6-month mark because milk and formula were not available.
“This is known, of course, as unhealthy eating, and we know that it causes intestinal disorders, flatulence and colic,” said al-Zein. “As you can see, 24 hours like this, she cries and cries continuously.”
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Israel destroys Hamas’ military and government capabilities and wins back the more than 100 hostages still held by the militant group.
Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the attack and kidnapped around 250 people.
More than 100 prisoners, mostly women and children, were released during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Meeting with the military on Monday, Netanyahu said Israel had defeated 18 of Hamas’ 24 battalions, without providing evidence. “We are on our way to absolute victory, and I want to tell you that we are committed to it and we will not let it go.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
