Tel Aviv – Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make another trip to the Middle East next week as the US tries to shore up support for a ceasefire proposal in the war between Israel and Hamas announced by President Biden last week.
Blinken will make stops in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Qatar, the White House said, where he will “discuss with partners the need to reach a ceasefire agreement that secures the release of all hostages.”
The announcement comes just one day after international investigation because of an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza’s central Nuseirat refugee camp, which had sheltered thousands of Palestinian civilians. Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, said at least 35 people were killed in the strike.
According to Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari, dozens of terrorists hid behind the refugees, using civilians as human shields.
Hamas “systematically operates from schools, UN facilities, hospitals and mosques,” Hagari said.
Two independent weapons experts told CBS News that it appears Israel used US-made GBU-39 bombs in Thursday’s attack. used the same in a May 26 air raid at a camp for displaced Palestinians in central Gaza, killing at least 45 people.
Last month, the US halted an arms shipment over concerns that the ammunition would be used in Israel’s ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Mr. Biden also said in an interview at the time that “I am not supplying the weapons that have historically been used to tackle Rafah.”
It puts the US in a precarious position because it is behind some of the Israeli munitions and some of the humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Almost two weeks ago the long awaited pier built by the US military broke apart in rough seas. The pier was reconnected on Friday.
However, in the only eight days the pier was previously operational, only a small number of aid trucks actually reached Gaza, and several of them were looted.
Amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke will come to Washington, DC next month to address a joint session of Congress on July 24.
It is unknown whether Netanyahu will meet with President Biden, given Mr. Biden’s growing frustration with Netanyahu’s warfare, says Israeli diplomat and staunch Netanyahu critic Alon Pinkas.
“According to opinion polls, people are beginning to believe that he is prolonging the war for no military or political reason other than his own survival,” Pinkas said.
Chris Livesay
