Blinken travels to Egypt and Qatar in his bid to prevent a broader regional war.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with leaders in Egypt and Qatar on Tuesday, the second day of a tour of the Middle East aimed at preventing an exchange of attacks with Iranian-backed militias from turning into a broader regional war and to rally allies around a proposed ceasefire deal for Gaza.
Mr. Blinken, op his fifth voyage to the region since the October 7 attacks in Israel, visited Cairo to meet with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt before traveling to Doha for talks with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, the country's prime minister and foreign minister.
Mr Blinken kicked off the trip a day earlier with a meeting in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, where he discussed how to achieve “a lasting end to the Gaza crisis” as well as the need to ease tensions in the region reduce, according to Mr Molenaar. During the trip, he will also hold meetings with leaders in Israel and the West Bank. They are all key players in the negotiations for a possible pause in the fighting in Gaza.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators have presented Hamas with a proposal, backed by the United States and Israel, that would halt fighting between Israel and Hamas for the first time since a week-long ceasefire in November in which more than 100 hostages were released interrupt. .
The Biden administration and its Arab allies are still waiting for a response from Hamas on a framework for the deal, which would include the exchange of more than 100 additional hostages in Gaza for a lull in the fighting and the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are held. Mr Blinken and Mr el-Sisi also discussed that proposal during the meeting on Tuesday.
A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the diplomatic efforts, said Mr Blinken would tell US allies in the region not to misinterpret the Biden administration's recent attacks on Iranian-backed militias as an escalation of the fighting in the Middle East. East.
US and British warplanes, with support from allies, have carried out a series of airstrikes on the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen in an attempt to stop the group from attacking ships in the Red Sea.
Mr. Blinken discussed with Mr. el-Sisi “shared goals for regional stability and prosperity, including halting Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.”
The US has also carried out dozens of military strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria in recent days, in retaliation for the killing of three American soldiers at a base near the Syrian border in Jordan.
During his meeting in Cairo with Mr. el-Sisi, Mr. Blinken discussed U.S. opposition to any movement of Palestinians from Gaza, said Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman. Egypt has rejected the idea of opening its border to allow displaced Palestinians to take temporary refuge on its territory.
“Secretary Blinken underscored the United States' rejection of any forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza and its commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state that provides peace and security to both Israelis and Palestinians,” Mr. Miller said.
When he visited Israel during the trip, Mr. Blinken was expected to raise American concerns about the number of civilian deaths in Gaza, American officials said.
Mr Blinken will also discuss what diplomats call “day-after” plans for governing Gaza after the fighting ends, including a possible role for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.