The US is expected to visit the area on Monday to further talks for a truce, and a senior Hamas official urged the US on Monday to put pressure on Israel to put an end to the conflict in Gaza.
On Monday, Blinken is scheduled to travel to Egypt and Israel. He also wants to make sure Lebanon stays out of the fight.
‘We call upon the U.S. administration to put pressure on the occupation to stop the war on Gaza and the Hamas movement is ready to deal positively with any initiative that secures an end to the war,’ Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official.
Blinken is also scheduled to visit Jordan and Qatar this week, marking his ninth trip to the area since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, sparking the deadliest phase of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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According to a State Department itinerary, he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo later on Monday.
In the early hours of Monday, Palestinian residents reported that tanks had been attempting to advance further northward, encroaching on Shaboura, one of the city’s most heavily populated and militantly powerful areas.
Since then, Israeli tank forces have taken control of Gaza’s entire border with Egypt, which passes via Rafah and leads to the Mediterranean coast. They have also attacked other neighborhoods of the 280,000-person city, forcing about a million displaced individuals who were seeking refuge in Rafah to evacuate.
Blinken’s visit follows the U.S. President Joe Biden’s May 31 outline of a three-phase proposal from Israel for a ceasefire that calls for the reconstruction of Gaza, the release of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages, and an end to hostilities permanently.
Israeli estimates indicate that 1,200 people were killed and another 250 others were taken hostage during the Hamas raid. In retaliation, Israel started an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has claimed the lives of over 37,000 Palestinians, according to a Sunday update from the health ministry in the enclave controlled by Hamas.
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