Blinken meets with Arab ministers in an effort to calm outrage over Gaza airstrikes

Concerned Arab leaders on Saturday publicly and privately called on Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to rein in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, increasing pressure on the Biden administration as it struggles to convince Israel reduce civilian casualties and increase humanitarian aid. .

Civilian deaths have sparked a crescendo of anger in the region and beyond, and an Israeli bombing of a convoy of ambulances drew condemnation from the United Nations, which said “nowhere is safe” in the area.

The depth of feeling among Arab nations was evident Saturday evening at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, where the country’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, bluntly told Mr. Blinken: “Stop this madness.” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, without conditions.

U.S. officials said Arab leaders had delivered similarly sharp messages privately to Mr. Blinken, reflecting concerns that growing public outrage over Israel’s actions could cause instability at home. They told Mr. Blinken that they could no longer tolerate domestic pressure over the high Palestinian death toll and that they needed the Americans to act.

These messages from Arab leaders on Saturday contrasted with what some of them privately told their American counterparts earlier in the conflict: that they were open to an aggressive Israeli campaign against Hamas, American officials said.

Mr. Blinken responded to Arab leaders’ calls for an immediate ceasefire by reiterating the United States’ position that Israel has the right to defend itself but must minimize civilian casualties.

“We believe that a ceasefire now would simply keep Hamas in place and allow it to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7.” Mr. Blinken said. “No country – none of us – can accept that.”

It was not immediately clear how the Arab leaders’ alarm would affect the Biden administration’s calculations.

Mr Blinken, who is on a tour of the Middle East, has led diplomatic efforts to convince Israel to allow aid to Gaza citizens who are trapped and desperate after nearly a month of war. He was also the leading voice of the Biden administration urging Israel to agree to a series of pauses in fighting to ease the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the exit of foreigners from the enclave.

Mr Netanyahu has rejected the idea, saying any pauses should be conditional on the release of all more than 240 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, although US officials said discussions were still ongoing and expressed hope that the Israelis would make their decision would reverse.

President Biden, asked by a reporter after leaving Mass in Rehoboth Beach, Del., on Saturday. came, whether there had been any progress in obtaining a humanitarian break in Gaza, replied: “Yes,” and gave a thumbs up, but gave no further details.

In a statement on Saturday evening, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing claimed that the bodies of 23 hostages had gone missing among the rubble in Gaza after Israeli airstrikes, a claim that could not be independently verified. Israeli officials have dismissed such statements as “psychological warfare,” an attempt by Hamas to sway Israeli public opinion by stoking fear over the fate of hostages held in Gaza even as fighting continues in the enclave.