US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Tel Aviv where he was expected to meet with Israeli leaders to discuss extending Israel's temporary truce with Hamas militants and boosting humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
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Blinken, making his third trip to the region since the deadly October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, is also expected to visit the occupied West Bank, where he will likely meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Palestinian official said.
"Looking at the next couple of days, we'll be focused on ... doing what we can to extend the pause so that we continue to get more hostages out and more humanitarian assistance in," Blinken said at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday.
The truce has brought the first respite to Gaza in seven weeks during which Israel bombed the territory heavily in response to a violent rampage by Hamas gunmen who killed around 1200 people and took 240 hostages.
Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas, which rules Gaza. Health authorities in Gaza say Israel's bombardment of the tiny, densely populated territory has so far killed more than 15,000 people, around 40 per cent of them children.
Since the start of the war, Blinken has conducted high-stakes diplomacy with Israeli and Arab leaders to help ensure the conflict does not broaden, push for the release of hostages and facilitate aid into Gaza, where a humanitarian disaster is unfolding.
On Wednesday, 16 more hostages were released by Hamas on the final day of a two-day truce extension. Israel was expected to release 30 more Palestinians from its jails. The swaps are a core component of the truce arrangement.
Australian Associated Press
