Blinken in Saudi Arabia for new Gaza peace talks

•Kingdom gives $40m to UNRWA •Israel kills 90 in hospital rampage

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about a new drive to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

In the top US diplomat’s sixth Middle East tour since Israel invaded Gaza on Oct. 7, he will also visit Egypt and Israel.

In Jeddah and Cairo, Blinken would discuss efforts to reach an “immediate ceasefire agreement that secures the release of all remaining hostages,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

He would also discuss post-conflict planning for Gaza and “a political path for the Palestinian people with security assurances with Israel, and an architecture for lasting peace and security in the region.” The visit comes amid strained ties between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Washington has supported Israel with billions of dollars in military aid since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, but has become increasingly frustrated by its ally’s failure to curb civilian deaths or allow the delivery of vital aid. Another major area of concern for the US has been the fate of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip. Biden has put pressure on Netanyahu to pull back from a full-scale ground offensive on the tiny area, where up to 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering after being driven from their homes elsewhere. In Israel, Blinken will “discuss the need to ensure the defeat of Hamas, including in Rafah, in a way that protects the civilian population,” his spokesman said.

As the secretary of state arrived in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s main aid agency KSrelief donated $40 million to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which has faced massive funding cuts and calls for its abolition spearheaded by Israel.

The new funds would “provide food for more than 250,000 people and tents for 20,000 families,” KSrelief said.

In Gaza, Israeli forces continued their rampage with tanks and troops through Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the fourth such attack since the war began. The Israeli military claimed to have killed 90 Hamas fighters and arrested 160. Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s government media office, said all of those killed had been wounded patients and displaced people inside the hospital.

“The Israeli occupation army practices lying and deception in spreading its narrative as part of justifying its continuous and lawbreaking crimes, which violate international law, international humanitarian law,” he said.