TEL AVIV — Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed here on Monday to pledge support for Israel as it prepares a major military offensive in Gaza. Blinken is scheduled to go straight to Jerusalem to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his war cabinet and President Isaac Herzog. The visit to Israel, Blinken’s second in just a few days, comes after President Biden warned that a new Israeli occupation of Gaza would be a “big mistake” — one of his firmest efforts to signal restraint to Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza reaches critical levels. About 600,000 people have been displaced from the north of the enclave, aid agencies say. Food and water supplies in Gaza are dangerously low and hospitals there will run out of fuel within 24 hours, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Sunday.
John Hudson, Niha Masih, Hari Raj, Annabelle Timsit, Claire Parker, Noga Tarnopolsky, Jennifer Hassan
Source link
