US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Tel Aviv on Thursday to show US solidarity with Israel after an attack by Palestinian militants Hamas and to try to resolve the conflict.
Washington’s top diplomat will negotiate the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas and will also discuss the possibility of pulling Gaza civilians out of the region ahead of a possible Israeli ground invasion.
Israel has declared a total siege on the Gaza region, home to 2.3 million people. The incessant bombardment has killed some 1,200 people and reduced entire neighbourhoods to rubble.
Israel’s political leadership has yet to decide on a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli military says it is already preparing for one. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht told reporters on Thursday that troops were “preparing for a ground manoeuvre if a decision is made.”
Israel has called up some 360,000 reservists to the army and launched a harsh response to a bloody and large-scale Hamas incursion over the weekend. The Israeli army has been carrying out intense airstrikes since Saturday, after which Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel.
More than 218,600 people have taken refuge in 92 UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says. The agency adds many more people are forced to stay in public schools and other buildings. In total, at least 340,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in Gaza.
The Rafah border crossing into Egypt remained closed, after airstrikes on the area on Tuesday. Egypt routinely shuts the crossing, the only way out for millions of civilians. Cairo has so far declined to reopen the border to allow safe passage for civilians, despite sending a line of aid trucks to the border before the airstrikes.
