A senior Hamas official called on the United States on Monday (10) to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza. The appeal comes amid US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s agenda in the region, which aims to boost ceasefire efforts.
Blinken is expected to visit Egypt and Israel on Monday (10). He also intends to ensure that the war does not expand into Lebanon.
“We call on the US administration to pressure the occupation to stop the war in Gaza and the Hamas movement stands ready to deal positively with any initiative that guarantees an end to the war,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official.
On his eighth visit to the region since Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering the bloodiest episode in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Blinken is also scheduled to travel to Jordan and Qatar this week.
He is expected to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, before traveling to Israel later this Monday (10), where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant , according to a State Department schedule.
Also earlier this week, Palestinian residents said tanks were trying to advance deeper into northern Gaza City, bypassing Shaboura, one of the most densely populated and militant neighborhoods in the city center.
Israeli armored forces have already seized the entire Gaza border strip with Egypt, passing through Rafah to the Mediterranean coast, and have invaded many districts of the city of 280,000 inhabitants, taking around a million displaced people who were sheltering in Rafah to escape to other places.
Blinken’s visit comes after US President Joe Biden on May 31 released Israel’s proposed three-phase ceasefire that calls for a permanent end to hostilities, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and the reconstruction of Gaza.
The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage, according to Israeli calculations. In response, Israel launched an attack on the Gaza Strip that killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory reported in its update on Sunday (9).
Source: CNN Brasil
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