by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Humeyra Pamuk
DOHA/RIYADH (Reuters) -US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the first stop on a new tour of the Middle East that fuels the hopes of the Palestinians in the face of the intensification of the offensive Israeli in Gaza.
This is the fifth trip to the region by the head of American diplomacy since the outbreak of the armed conflict between Hamas and Israel on October 7.
A White House official said on CBS on Sunday that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip was his top priority.
Antony Blinken was due to meet in Riyadh with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the head of Saudi diplomacy, Prince Faisal bin Farhane al Saud.
A temporary truce project was developed at the end of January in Paris by Qatari, American and Egyptian mediators, but Hamas reserves its response to the initiative, demanding guarantees for a total ceasefire and a withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza.
According to sources close to the discussions, the document provides for a truce of at least forty days and the release of some 130 hostages still in the hands of the Palestinian armed movements.
The suspension of hostilities would also allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gazan population and the return of displaced civilians.
The previous truce had lasted only a week.
“We want the war to stop, we want to go home, that’s all we want at this stage,” Yamen Hamad, 35, a father of four who took refuge in a school in UN in Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, one of the last refuges in the enclave for families fleeing the fighting.
“We listen and read the news, on the radio and on the internet. We hope that Blinken will tell Netanyahu that enough is enough, and we hope that the (Palestinian) factions will act in the interest of their people,” adds Yamen Hamad.
Antony Blinken is also expected in Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, is making his first trip to the region to “work for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages, and to convince people to reopen a political perspective.” He was to make a stop on Monday in Israel and the Palestinian territories after Egypt and Jordan.
The minister once again pleaded, in Jerusalem, for an “immediate and lasting ceasefire” and the “massive entry of humanitarian aid” into Gaza.
“The ongoing tragedy in Gaza must end,” he told reporters.
“WEIGHING ON NETANYAHU”
The Israeli army continued its ground offensive, once again threatening Rafah, where thousands of Palestinians found refuge in makeshift tents.
Fighting continued in Khan Younes, the main town in the south of the enclave, and increased in intensity in Gaza, in the north.
The IDF General Staff said Monday that it had killed dozens of Palestinian fighters in the past 24 hours during clashes in the north, center and south of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian health authorities said they had discovered the bodies of 14 people killed in a strike Sunday evening in Khan Younes.
According to the Palestinian authorities, more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Israeli offensive. Israel reports 10,000 Palestinian fighters killed and deplores 226 soldiers killed in combat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged “total victory” against Hamas, rejecting the Palestinian organization’s calls for a lasting ceasefire.
The leader of Hamas in exile, Ismaïl Haniyeh, announced last week that he would go to Cairo to give his response to the proposed truce, but the organization has not yet given a timetable.
A Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations assures that Hamas will speak “soon”, it is up to Antony Blinken, he says, to convince the head of the Israeli government to make concessions.
“Netanyahu does not want an end to the war. He wants an agreement for the release of the hostages. We are far from what our people can accept,” the official said in a messaging exchange.
“Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other factions want guarantees that (the) occupation force will commit to ending the war in Gaza and withdraw its troops. These are their main demands,” it said. he.
“If they want an end to the conflict and successful mediation, the Americans must put pressure on Netanyahu.”
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Doha with contributions from Dan Williams in Jerusalem; written by Peter Graff; French version Sophie Louet, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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