US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Israel on Monday, urging both sides to take steps to ease the recent escalation and tensions.
“It’s everyone’s responsibility to take steps to reduce tensions, not escalate them,” Blinken said, according to Reuters.
Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv from Cairo and will later hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in light of the escalating violence.
Blinken will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and then travel to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Ramallah headquarters.
stress reduction
The US Secretary of State discussed with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo “de-escalation” before traveling to Jerusalem and Ramallah.
In turn, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said they “discussed ongoing efforts to reduce tensions between Israelis and Palestinians,” highlighting Cairo’s “important” role in “promoting regional stability.”
At a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri Blinken urged all parties to “calm down and de-escalate” the ongoing violence.
At a press conference, Blinken pointed to the importance of Egypt’s role as a mediator between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, saying “I have discussed with President Sisi and Shukri how to reduce tensions and restore calm” in the region.
Israeli sanctions
It is noteworthy that after the recent attacks, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, the most right-wing government in the history of Israel, announced measures aimed at punishing the relatives of those responsible for the attacks.
In this regard, Israeli forces closed the house of a Palestinian family who killed six Israelis and a Ukrainian woman on Friday in East Jerusalem, with the aim of demolishing it.
On the same day, the Israeli army launched raids in Gaza in response to rocket attacks by Israeli Palestinian factions from the besieged sector.
On Thursday, Israel launched a military operation in the Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank in which nine Palestinians were killed, the highest death toll in a single operation in years.
Violent actions
A Palestinian died Sunday of wounds sustained on Thursday, bringing the death toll from the Jenin operation to ten.
A new attack took place in East Jerusalem on Saturday when a 13-year-old Palestinian boy opened fire and wounded a man and his son, after which he was also wounded by armed Israelis and arrested.
On Sunday, Israeli guards killed a Palestinian in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. On Monday, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in Hebron, in the West Bank, according to Palestinian authorities.
