Blinken to visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt as US-Israel rift grows over Gaza

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week to push for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and make headway on plans for the enclave’s post-war future. 

Speaking to reporters in the Philippines, where he is currently traveling, Blinken said Tuesday he will use his Middle East trip — his sixth since the Gaza war erupted — to “discuss the right architecture for lasting regional peace.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to publicly reject the administration’s vision for postwar Gaza, including its calls for a two-state solution to settle the decades-long conflict and for a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern the territory when the war ends. 

Blinken, who will visit the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Wednesday and the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Thursday, did not mention a stop in Israel, where he has traveled on each of his previous Middle East trips since Hamas' attack. 

“We’ve also impressed upon Israel the imperative of having a plan for Gaza for when the conflict ends, which we hope will be as soon as possible, consistent with Israel’s needs to defend itself and make sure Oct. 7 can never happen again,” Blinken said, referencing the militants' killing of 1,200 people and capture of some 250 hostages. 

Officials from Israel, Egypt and Qatar met in Doha Monday for a new round of talks over a cease-fire that would pause the fighting for roughly six weeks in exchange for Hamas’ release of around 40 female, sick and elderly hostages. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told a news conference Tuesday that Qatari officials were “cautiously optimistic” following the talks a day earlier. 

Blinken also spoke of the “horrific humanitarian situation” in the Gaza Strip, where the Health Ministry said Tuesday more than 31,800 Palestinians in the territory of 2.3 million have been killed since early October. The top US diplomat said it was “absolutely incumbent on Israel” to ensure aid is reaching the besieged enclave. 

His comment came after a new report from a collective of international aid groups, including the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization, said Monday that 1.1 million people — half of Gaza’s population — are facing imminent famine. In northern Gaza, 70% of the population is experiencing “catastrophic" levels of hunger, the UN-backed report said. 

Blinken’s trip comes as the Biden administration’s frustrations with Israel are increasingly spilling into public view. Following his State of the Union address, in which he warned Israel not to use Gaza's aid as a “bargaining chip,” President Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic saying he and Netanyahu would have a “come to Jesus” meeting over the humanitarian crisis. 

During a Monday phone call with Netanyahu — their first in over a month — Biden requested an Israeli team of military, intelligence and humanitarian officials visit Washington in the coming days to consult over Israel’s planned offensive into the crowded Gaza border city of Rafah. US officials will use the meetings to lay out “an alternative approach” to target Hamas' leadership that doesn’t require Israel to launch a major ground operation in Rafah, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. Israel has yet to put forward a plan for moving the 1.5 million Palestinians who are sheltering in Rafah out of harm’s way, he said.