US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed on Tuesday in Tel Aviv for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian authorities on the fourth day of a ceasefire after the violent conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas, which govern Gaza, despite the persistence of tension.
Blinken has scheduled meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas before continuing his journey through Egypt and Jordan.
The purpose of the visit is to “support efforts to consolidate the ceasefire,” Blinken tweeted on Monday, while American President Joe Biden said the Secretary of State will speak about “unwavering (United States) support for Israel’s security “and will continue with” government efforts to rebuild links with the Palestinians “.
During the ceasefire, the two expressed support for the “two-state solution”, Israeli and Palestinian, endorsed by the international community and rescued by the new American government before the crisis of the past few weeks.
But the latest communiqués from the State Department and the White House did not mention the two-state solution. “Our priority is really, first of all, to get the ceasefire to continue,” said a US government source ahead of Blinken’s trip.
The source considered any more ambitious plan “premature”.
Despite intense diplomatic efforts, tensions persist between Israelis and Palestinians.
Two people were injured, including an Israeli soldier, in a knife attack in Jerusalem, near the Seikh Jarrah neighborhood. The perpetrator of the attack, a 17-year-old Palestinian, was killed by Israeli security forces.
The 11-day war between Hamas and Israel killed 253 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including 66 minors, according to local officials.
In Israel, rocket launches from Gaza left 12 dead, including a child, a teenager and a soldier, police said.
