Blinken to travel to Middle East 'in the coming days': State Department
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East "in the coming days."
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East "in the coming days," the State Department said Thursday after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire halting 11 days of fighting.
Blinken spoke with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi, who "welcomed Secretary Blinken s planned travel to the region, where the secretary will meet with Israeli, Palestinian, and regional counterparts in the coming days to discuss recovery efforts and working together to build better futures for Israelis and Palestinians," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday he would be prepared to travel to the Middle East, as he headed home from an Arctic tour overshadowed by Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
His statement came as Israel agreed a ceasefire with the two main Palestinian armed groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, following 11 days of conflict in which 12 Israelis and 232 Palestinians died, according to official tolls.
"I am prepared at any time to go to Israel, to the Middle East, if that would serve the purpose of moving beyond the violence and helping to work on improving lives for Israelis and Palestinians alike," Blinken said at a press conference in Greenland.
He said that he had pushed for a "de-escalation on the path to a ceasefire" in a phone call with Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict had topped journalists questions at Blinken s public appearances in Denmark and at the Arctic Council in Iceland, where he also met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
He spoke to leaders on both sides, as well as from Arab nations with influence over Hamas, from hotel rooms and the aeroplane in the scramble for a ceasefire.
Now "if there s a good time" to travel to the Middle East "that s certainly something I intend to do," Blinken said without naming a date.
