He began a third day of intense Middle East diplomacy aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a regional conflict.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has called for protection for civilians in both the Gaza Strip and Israel as the Israeli military ordered half of the Palestinian territory’s population to evacuate in advance of an expected ground assault.
“As Israel pursues its legitimate right, to defending its people and to trying to ensure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians, and we’re working together to do exactly that,” Mr Blinken said before heading to the United Arab Emirates for similar discussions.
The official said the discussions with Israeli leaders did stress the importance of taking into account the safety of civilians as Israel’s military moved to enforce the evacuation demand.In a sign of some small potential progress, a senior US official travelling with Mr Blinken said an agreement in principle had been worked out between Egypt, Israel and Qatar to allow Palestinian-Americans and other dual citizens in Gaza to cross the border into Egypt during a five-hour window on Saturday.
While stressing Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself and its citizens, Mr Blinken repeated a warning to other countries and groups not to get involved.
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