US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Israel after meeting with senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Arab media.
Now he is travelling to Saudi Arabia to meet with senior officials and discuss ending the war in the Gaza Strip. Blinken stressed that Israel needed to do more to allow aid into Gaza.
However, mediation efforts by the US, Egypt and Qatar to reach a Middle East ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas collapsed due to Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 42,000 people, exacerbated tensions in the region. According to Lebanese health authorities, the conflict spread to Lebanon. Despite the threat of a larger war involving other states, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground operation in southern Lebanon on 1 October.
