Today's Edition
SHABAN BILAL (CAIRO) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday warned of “forced displacement” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip following his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the West Bank.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Blinken and Abbas also discussed “the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians” in the West Bank.
Blinken’s unannounced visit to Ramallah on Sunday is his second visit to the region since October 7. Blinken reiterated Washington’s call for a humanitarian pause in order to deliver aid to the 2.4 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. Also on Sunday, which marks the thirtieth day of the war in Gaza, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, called for an “immediate humanitarian truce”.
The French Foreign Minister told reporters during a visit to Qatar on Sunday that “an immediate, durable, and observed humanitarian truce is absolutely necessary, and must be able to lead to a ceasefire”.
According to Colonna, France is currently working to have a resolution on a truce adopted by the United Nations Security Council. Colonna’s statements follow the call for a “humanitarian pause” launched by Blinken, a proposal which served as the focus of the US Secretary of State’s talks in Israel on Friday.
The humanitarian pause put forth by the US official has yet to receive the approval of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The meeting between Blinken and Abbas came on the heels of an intensive slate of meetings during the former’s surprise visit to the region, which included a coordination meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, alongside a joint meeting held by Arab foreign ministers with Antony Blinken in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
During the meetings, the ministers affirmed the Arab position, which calls for an immediate ceasefire, and stressed the importance of enhancing efforts to secure the immediate and sustainable flow of humanitarian aid to civilians.
Political analyst Amer Al Sabaileh emphasised the importance of the Amman meeting, which aimed to find prospects to restore calm and reduce tensions with the overall objective of preventing a regional expansion of instability. “Discussing the situation directly with Washington is necessary to present a clear vision of this conflict, contain it, and stop this war,” Sabaileh told Aletihad.
Meanwhile, ground battles continue north of the Gaza Strip, despite escalating calls for a ceasefire.
The Israeli army dropped leaflets urging residents of Gaza City to evacuate southward between 10am and 2pm, one day after a US official estimated that at least 350,000 civilians reside in and around the city. At the end of an Amman meeting with Blinken on Saturday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi emphasised that “with one voice”, the Arab world demands an end to the war in Gaza.
The United Nations reported that only 450 trucks of humanitarian aid have entered the enclave through the Rafah Crossing on the border with Egypt since October 21.
Hundreds of injured, foreigners, and dual nationals were able to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah Crossing. However, evacuation operations have been disrupted due to Israel’s refusal to allow the Palestinian injured to be transferred to Egyptian hospitals.
“No foreign passport holders from the Gaza Strip will be allowed to travel except after coordination and the evacuation of the injured from Gaza and the northern hospitals towards the Rafah Crossing,” a responsible source at the Crossings Authority told Aletihad.
