Blinken in Ramallah to hold talks with Palestinian President Abbas

RAMALLAH, Palestine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a regional tour to stop the escalation of the Gaza conflict to the wider region, on Wednesday arrived in Ramallah, West Bank, to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Blinken, who met the Israeli leadership in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, said he "pressed on the absolute imperative to do more to protect civilians and make sure that humanitarian assistance is getting into the hands of those who need it and bring back the hostages."

After the meeting, Abbas is expected to head to the Jordanian city of Aqaba to participate in a summit along with Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to discuss developments in Gaza, where Israeli bombardment has killed more than 23,000 people and left the coastal territory in ruins with acute shortages of food, water, and medicine.

Washington has so far refrained from calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and has provided Tel Aviv with military, intelligence, and diplomatic support.

Blinken is on his fourth tour to the Middle East in three months.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara