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Blinken Holding Egypt Talks Seeking Gaza Cease-Fire, Humanitarian Aid

By VOA News March 21, 2024

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds talks Thursday in Egypt focused on efforts to secure a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, gain release of hostages held in Gaza and move more humanitarian aid into Gaza to help Palestinian civilians who are badly in need of assistance.

Blinken's schedule includes separate meetings with Egyptian officials, and with representatives from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Multiple countries have been involved in weeks of talks trying to come up with a proposal acceptable to both Israel and the Hamas militant group.

Blinken will update Israeli leaders about the latest developments when he travels to Israel for talks on Friday.

In Israel, Blinken will "discuss the need to ensure the defeat of Hamas, including in Rafah, in a way that protects the civilian population, does not hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and advances Israel's overall security," according to a statement from the U.S. State Department.

The U.S. has raised opposition to Israel's plan to carry out a ground offensive in Rafah, located along the Gaza-Egypt border, which Israel says is necessary to achieve its goal of defeating Hamas and ensuring the group cannot carry out another attack like the October 7 assault on Israel.

More than a million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah, many of them after fleeing other parts of Gaza to try to find safety amid the war.

The Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed the need to "consider alternatives to a major ground operation in Rafah," as he spoke Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Austin told Gallant the United States shares the goal of defeating Hamas, the Pentagon said in a statement. The defense ministers also spoke about the need to protect civilians and "urgently increase the flow of aid into Gaza through land crossings."

Aside from the number of people killed in the war — 1,200 in the shock October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and nearly 32,000 in Israel's subsequent counteroffensive in Gaza — the delivery of humanitarian aid into the war zone to help famished Palestinians has become one of the most contentious points of conflict between Israel and its Western allies.

The United States has conducted several rounds of air drops of aid into Gaza, and efforts are in progress to make deliveries by sea. International aid organizations have highlighted the difficulty of getting aid into Gaza through limited ground crossings and a lack of access to many areas of Gaza due to the ongoing violence and the devastation left behind by the war.

Blinken began his visit to the region in Saudi Arabia, where he met Wednesday with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. Blinken and his Saudi counterpart "discussed the urgent need to protect all civilians in Gaza and immediately increase humanitarian assistance to those in need," the State Department said.

The Saudis announced a $40 million donation to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees to support its "humanitarian relief efforts in the Gaza Strip."

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.