U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Cairo to talk with Egyptian leaders about stopping the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The main focus was on getting Hamas to agree to a cease-fire and release hostages they’re holding.
Egypt is worried because Israel wants to expand the conflict into areas near the Egyptian border, where many Palestinians who lost their homes are staying. This is causing concern in Egypt about the situation getting worse.
Israel’s defense minister announced that Israel’s military operation will extend to the town of Rafah, which is close to the Egyptian border. Many of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, over half of the population, have fled to Rafah seeking safety, but conditions there are getting worse.
On Tuesday, United Nations officials responsible for humanitarian aid stated that Israel has instructed people to leave their homes in two-thirds of Gaza. This is forcing thousands of people each day to move towards the border regions in search of safety.
Egypt has cautioned that if Israel sends troops to the border, it could break the peace agreement signed by the two nations more than 40 years ago. Egypt is worried that if fighting spreads to the Rafah area, Palestinian civilians might flee across the border into Egypt, which Egypt wants to avoid at all costs.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday, has emphasized multiple times that Palestinians should not be made to leave Gaza against their will.
In his recent trip, Blinken is working hard to make progress in three main areas: achieving a cease-fire deal, possibly improving relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and preventing conflicts from getting worse in the region.
However, Blinken is facing significant challenges on all three fronts. Hamas and Israel are publicly disagreeing on important parts of a potential truce. Israel has rejected the United States’ suggestions for a way to establish a Palestinian state. Additionally, militant groups supported by Iran in the region haven’t shown any signs of being stopped by U.S. attacks. These are tough obstacles for Blinken to overcome as he tries to bring stability and peace to the region.
Egypt, along with Qatar, where Blinken will visit later on Tuesday, have been trying to help negotiate a deal between Israel and Hamas. The goal is to release more hostages in exchange for a temporary halt in Israeli military actions for a few weeks. Last month, intelligence leaders from the U.S., Egypt, Qatar, and Israel worked out the basic details of this proposal, which has been presented to Hamas. However, Hamas has not given a formal response yet.
Blinken is hoping to get an update on Hamas’ reaction to the proposal while he’s in Cairo and Doha. After that, he will travel to Israel to inform Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet about what he learned from the Arab leaders. One of Blinken’s main goals, just like on his previous trips to the Middle East since the Gaza war began, is to prevent the conflict from spreading further. This task has become much more challenging due to increased attacks by militias supported by Iran in the region and stronger responses from the U.S. military in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the Red Sea, especially since last week.
On Monday evening, Blinken met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shortly after arriving in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials have expressed interest in normalizing relations with Israel, which could be a historic development. However, they’ve made it clear that this can only happen if there’s a believable plan in place to create a Palestinian state.
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Blinken stressed the importance of helping people in Gaza and stopping the conflict from spreading further. He and the crown prince also talked about the significance of creating a region that’s more connected and prosperous, according to the State Department. However, a big agreement like this seems far away as the fighting in Gaza continues.
The number of Palestinians killed in nearly four months of war has risen to 27,585, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas. In the last day, 107 bodies were taken to hospitals. The ministry doesn’t separate civilians from fighters in its count, but it says most of those who died were women and children.
The war has destroyed large parts of Gaza and left a quarter of the people there without enough food.
On Tuesday, U.N. monitors said Israel’s orders for people to leave their homes now cover two-thirds of Gaza, or 246 square kilometers. Before the war started because of an attack by Hamas on October 7, this area was home to 1.78 million Palestinians, or 77% of Gaza’s population.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in its daily update that the newly displaced people only have about 1.5-2 liters of water per day for drinking, cooking, and washing. It also said there’s been a big increase in cases of chronic diarrhea among children.
Parents with babies are facing a really tough time because things like diapers, baby formula, and milk are either too expensive or just not available.
Take Zainab Al-Zein, for example. She’s staying in Deir al-Balah, a town in the middle of the area. She had to start giving her 2.5-month-old baby solid food, like biscuits and ground rice, much earlier than usual because she couldn’t find any milk or formula.
Now, giving a baby solid food so early isn’t good for them. It can give them stomach problems like bloating and make them cry a lot. Zainab’s baby cries almost non-stop because of this.
On the other hand, Israel’s Prime Minister, Netanyahu, has promised to keep fighting until Hamas, the group they’re fighting against, is weakened and they get back all the people Hamas has taken as hostages.
Hamas and other groups caused the deaths of about 1,200 people in the attack, mostly innocent civilians, and they also kidnapped about 250 people. During a pause in the fighting in November, over 100 hostages, mainly women and children, were set free. This was part of a deal where Israel released 240 Palestinians they had in prison.
Netanyahu, speaking to soldiers on Monday, claimed that Israel had beaten 18 out of Hamas’ 24 military units. However, he didn’t show any proof for this claim. He also stated that Israel is determined to win completely and won’t stop until they achieve that goal.
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