Blinken to press for truce on Mideast tour

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the Middle East for another crisis tour on Monday in a bid to secure a new truce in the Israel-Hamas war, as southern Gaza saw no letup in fighting.

On his fifth trip to the region since Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered the war, Blinken is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt and Qatar.

Ahead of the trip he stressed the need for ‘urgently addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza’, after aid groups have repeatedly sounded the alarm over the devastating impact on the besieged territory of nearly five months of war.

“The situation is indescribable,” said Said Hamouda, a Palestinian who fled his home in the Gaza Strip to the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.

Dubbed a ‘pressure cooker of despair’ by the United Nations, Rafah now hosts more than half of Gaza’s 2.4 million people, displaced due to Israel’s assault.

“Whether you have a million dollars or a hundred you are in the same situation,” Hamouda said.

Over the weekend, Israel pressed further south towards the teeming border city, warning its ground forces could advance on Rafah as part of its campaign to eradicate Hamas.

On Monday morning, sources said they could hear artillery shelling in the areas of eastern Rafah and Khan Yunis, Gaza’s main city. The Hamas government media office said Israeli bombardments have continued across the centre and southern end of coastal territory, including near hospitals.

With Blinken arriving in the region, he is expected to discuss a proposed truce thrashed out in a Paris meeting in January of top US, Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials.

The diplomatic push has become more urgent with the surge in attacks by Iran-backed groups in solidarity with Hamas, triggering counterattacks by the United States.