Washington, United States:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday held talks with crucial counterparts influential in the Middle East as the United States seeks to de-escalate deadly clashes in between Israel and the Palestinians.
Blinken, who was en route Sunday to Denmark at the get started of a week of diplomacy focused on the Arctic, spoke by phone to officials in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France.
After Iran, Qatar is seen as obtaining the greatest influence on the Hamas militant group.
“The secretary reiterated his call on all parties to de-escalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence, which has claimed the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including children,” State Department spokesman Ned Price stated.
Each of Blinken’s calls sounded these themes, according to the State Department readouts.
The calls followed the deadliest day however in the practically weeklong flareup, as Israeli strikes killed 42 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and as the UN Security Council held a virtual meeting amid international alarm more than the conflict.
Blinken’s calls also came a day following President Joe Biden named Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, to express his “grave concern” more than the deteriorating predicament and urge each sides to show restraint.
The heaviest exchange of fire in years, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem, has killed 197 in Gaza considering that Monday, along with 10 in Israel, according to authorities on either side.
Israel’s army stated Sunday that about 3,000 rockets had been fired from the coastal strip towards Israel — the highest price ever recorded.
Rockets have wounded more than 280 men and women, hitting districts that had previously been properly beyond the variety of Hamas rockets.
Israel stated Sunday morning its “continuing wave of strikes” had in the previous 24 hours struck more than 90 targets across the crowded coastal enclave, exactly where an Israeli strike that destroyed a constructing housing journalists’ offices sparked international outrage.
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