Blinken returns to Mideast in bid to secure new truce as battles raged in Gaza

File photo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Istanbul, on January 5, 2024.  © Evelyn Hockstein, AFP

Battles raged in Gaza’s south Sunday ahead of another visit to the region by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a bid to secure a new truce as the Israel-Hamas war approaches its fifth month. He is expected to begin his trip on Monday in Saudi Arabia before visits to Israel, Egypt and Qatar.

Summary

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is travelling to the Middle East on Sunday for a fifth time since the October 7 Hamas attacks to support talks on a new truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. He is due to visit Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia. 
• The United States on Sunday warned Iran and the militias it arms and funds that it will conduct more attacks if American forces in the Mideast continue to be targeted, but that it does not want an “open-ended military campaign” across the region.
• France‘s Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné on his first Middle East tour, met his counterparts in Egypt and Jordan, with Amman’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi saying “immediate international action” was needed “to stop the war in Gaza”.
• Israel has warned its ground forces could advance on Rafah as part of its campaign to eliminate Hamas.
• The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 27,365 people have been killed and 66,630 wounded in Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7. The vast majority of the victims are women and children. Israeli officials say about 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Militant fighters took some 250 hostages during the attack and 132 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
• American forces carried out air strikes against five missiles in Yemen on Sunday — one designed for land attack and the others for targeting ships, the US military said.
• Yemen‘s Houthis said on Sunday that the US and British air strikes “will not deter us” and vowed a response after dozens of targets were hit in retaliation for the Iran-backed rebels’ repeated Red Sea attacks.
• Canada will impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who incite violence in the West Bank and introduce new sanctions on Hamas leaders, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Sunday.
• EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Sunday that moves to suspend the funding of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) were extremely ill-advised.
• AFP/ FRANCE24