Blinken Returns to Mideast as Latest Cease-Fire Plan Stalls
- Top diplomat looking to revive push for pause in fighting
- Israel under more scrutiny after recent deadly airstrikes
Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to the Middle East next week in a bid to keep alive a cease-fire proposal between Israel and Hamas even though both sides have distanced themselves from it.
The top US diplomat, on his eighth visit to the region since the war began, plans to visit Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Qatar, the State Department said Friday. Blinken will meet senior officials as he continues pushing forward a plan that the Biden administration says would pause fighting and guarantee the release of Israeli hostages, as well as set in motion the rebuilding of Gaza and a longer-term solution to the conflict.