Blinken continues Middle East efforts as Gaza war approaches its fifth month

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken continues his tour in the Middle East on Tuesday, seeking a truce in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which is nearing its fifth month. 

After starting his fifth tour in the region since the outbreak of the war in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Blinken arrived in Egypt on Tuesday before heading to Qatar in the evening, both countries mediating efforts for a ceasefire. He will then proceed to Israel and the occupied West Bank. 

Parallel to diplomatic efforts and talks, Israeli airstrikes continue in various areas of the Gaza Strip. The Ministry of Health, affiliated with the Hamas government, announced the death of 107 people since Monday evening, indicating airstrikes and artillery shelling in the Rafah and Khan Younis regions in the southern Gaza Strip. 

The Israeli army announced that it is engaged in "close combat" in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza. 

Sources in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, confirmed that the battles are concentrated in the areas of Baten Al-Samin, Hay Al-Amal, and Qizan an Najjar in Khan Younis. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday that the Israeli army evacuated about eight thousand displaced people from Al-Amal Hospital and the association's headquarters in Khan Younis. About 40 elderly displaced people, in addition to around 80 patients and injured individuals and 100 administrative and medical staff, remain in the hospital surrounded by Israeli forces, and their lives are at risk due to the ongoing blockade. 

Israel claims that Hamas elements prepared in Khan Younis for an unprecedented attack on its territory on October 7th. It alleges that senior Hamas officials are hiding in the city. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday evening that Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas's political bureau in the Gaza Strip and a native of Khan Younis, has now become a "fugitive terrorist" moving from one hideout to another and is "unable to communicate" with his associates. 

AFP