JEDDAH, Jan 06 (Arab News): The US and EU's top diplomats arrived in the Middle East on Friday in a renewed diplomatic push to prevent Israel's war on Gaza from spilling over to the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the West Bank during a week-long tour that will take in Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt and Greece.
"It is in no one's interest, not Israel's, not the region's, not the world's, for this conflict to spread beyond Gaza," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. "We don't expect every conversation on this trip to be easy."
Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, was in Lebanon on Friday to discuss the situation at the Israeli border. As he arrived, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the Iran-backed militia had conducted about670 military operations on the border with Israel since Oct. 8, and had destroyed many Israeli military vehicles.
The diplomatic flurry comes almost three months after Hamas militants from Gaza attacked Israel, triggering a retaliatory offensive that has has killed 22,600 Palestinians and devastated the enclave.
Israeli planes and tanks intensified attacks on Friday on the densely populated areas of Al-Maghazi, Al-Bureij and Al-Nusseirat in the center of Gaza.
More than 160 people were killed in 24 hours. Four others were killed in an airstrike on a street in Al-Nusseirat, and further south, to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced, six were killed in a strike on Khan Younis.
US, EU top diplomats in renewed push to halt Gaza war spillover
FE Team | Published: January 06, 2024 23:18:24
US, EU top diplomats in renewed push to halt Gaza war spillover
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