Tel Aviv, Israel — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday he will visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan on a tour to put pressure on Hamas after a massive attack on Israel.
Blinken announced the additional stops at a news conference after talks in Israel. The State Department has previously announced that he will head late Thursday to Jordan, where he will meet King Abdullah II and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Friday, and then Qatar later in the day.
Blinken announced he would also visit Egypt, a key player in Arab diplomacy, as well as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which before the crisis had taken the first steps in an ambitious US-backed push to normalize relations with Israel.
In each stop, “we will continue pressing countries to help prevent the conflict from spreading and to use their leverage on Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release the hostages,” Blinken told a news conference in Tel Aviv.
At least 150 Israelis and foreigners — including soldiers, civilians, children and women — have been held hostage in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s cross-border onslaught launched on Saturday that has killed more than 1,200 people in Israel.
Israel has retaliated by raining air strikes and artillery bombardments on Hamas targets in Gaza for six days, claiming more than 1,350 lives, most of them civilians.
‘Raised Gaza humanitarian needs’
Blinken said he raised with Israel the “humanitarian needs” of the Gaza Strip while defending the right to retaliate for the deadly Hamas attack.
“We did discuss ways to address the humanitarian needs of people living in Gaza to protect them from harm, while Israel conducts its legitimate security operations to defend itself from terrorism and to try to ensure that this never happens again,” Blinken told reporters after talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials in Tel Aviv.
“We also talked about possibilities for safe passage for civilians who want to leave or get out of the way,” he said.
US officials are discussing safe passage both with Israel and Egypt, which also borders the Gaza Strip, ahead of an expected Israeli ground operation.
‘Vows unwavering US support’
Blinken vowed unwavering US support for Israel in its war on Hamas but said the Palestinians also have “legitimate aspirations not represented by the Islamists”.
“You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself,” Blinken said at a joint press conference in Tel Aviv with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “But as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side.”
Israeli strikes knock Syria’s two airports out of service
Israeli strikes knocked Syria’s two main airports out of service. Israeli strikes have repeatedly caused the grounding of flights at the airports in the capital Damascus and northern city Aleppo, both of which are controlled by the government of war-torn Syria.
The “simultaneous” strikes “damaged landing strips in the two airports, putting them out of service”, state media said, citing an unidentified military source.
Flights were re-routed through Latakia airport on the Mediterranean coast, according to Syria’s transport ministry.
Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, confirmed the strike on Damascus airport, saying it was intended to thwart “weapons deliveries from Iran”.
“These missiles, these drones are used against Israel,” he said in an interview with German broadcaster Die Welt.
Gaza pounded by Israel every 30 seconds
Like clockwork, every 30 seconds Israeli artillery goes into action against a barely visible target somewhere in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Israel has vowed to “crush” Hamas after gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist group stormed across the border and killed 1,200 people — the deadliest attack on the country since it was founded 75 years ago.
Six days since the offensive took Israel by surprise, its army has kept pounding the densely populated Gaza Strip with artillery shells and air strikes, as it prepares for a possible ground invasion.
Israel has massed forces, tanks and other heavy armour around Gaza and called up 300,000 reservists.
In a statement on Thursday the army said it has bombarded Gaza with approximately 6,000 munitions containing a total of 4,000 tons of explosives since Saturday when it began striking Hamas targets.
Troops have deployed 150 mm artillery guns in fields along the border with Gaza, placing them a few meters (yards) apart, near the towns of Netivot and Sderot which were overrun by Hamas militants in their weekend onslaught.