FLASH
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Washington's Arab allies will press Secretary of State Antony Blinken to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during a meeting of foreign ministers in Amman on Saturday, as the United States tries to persuade Israel for a temporary truce. of fighting to allow aid to enter the Palestinians.
The United States has rejected international calls for a full ceasefire but has tried to persuade Israel to accept temporary humanitarian pauses, an idea Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected after meeting Mr Blinken in Israel on Friday.
Secretary Blinken is visiting the region for the second time since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed more than 1,400 people. Another 240 were taken hostage. Israel retaliated amid attacks in the Gaza Strip to hit the militant group that the United States considers a terrorist organization.
Health officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 9,250 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since then. The Israeli military has placed Gaza under siege, struck it from the air and launched a ground offensive, sparking global alarm over humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Food is scarce and medical services are paralysing.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan, as well as Palestinian representatives, will emphasize "the Arab position calling for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid and ways to end dangerous deterioration that threatens the security of the region," the Jordanian foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
After meeting Mr Blinken on Friday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel rejected a temporary ceasefire that did not include the release of hostages.
A senior State Department official said Secretary Blinken's talks with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war cabinet on humanitarian pauses on Friday follow a push that began last month to send humanitarian goods to Gaza.
Israel initially refused, but then allowed aid to enter. More than 100 aid trucks a day now enter Gaza, the official said. US officials say 500-600 trucks a day are needed to meet needs in the Hamas-controlled enclave.
The US is urging Israel to agree to temporary humanitarian pauses to allow aid to be delivered, but Israel is concerned that Hamas would use these pauses to regroup and resupply.
The US special envoy for humanitarian affairs in the Middle East, David Satterfield, told reporters traveling with Mr Blinken that Israel's concerns were understandable, but that assurances that Israel would not target locations or roads are a "strategic necessity" to send aid to those in need.
"We want to see the creation of the possibility for the safe and sustainable movement of humanitarian aid, not only through the Rafah border crossing, but where it is needed throughout the south," he said, adding that between 800,000 and 1 million people are already shifted from north to south.
King Abdullah of Jordan, a US ally, told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a phone call on Friday that the international community must urgently push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Arab states are worried about the risk of the conflict spreading in the region. Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militias have launched attacks on Israel since October 7, while Tehran-backed Iraqi Shiite militias have also fired on US forces in Iraq and Syria.
Lebanon's interim prime minister Najib Mikati stressed the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza during a meeting with Mr Blinken in Jordan on Saturday, Mr Mikati's office said.
He also said that "Israeli aggression" in southern Lebanon must stop.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Secretary Blinken had "shared his deep concern about the exchange of fire along Lebanon's southern border with Israel and stressed that it is important that the Israel-Hamas conflict does not spread further." /VOA
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