The United States' top diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv on Friday (November 3) to push for humanitarian pauses in the Gaza war as Israel said it had surrounded the Palestinian enclave's biggest city and the focus of its drive to annihilate Hamas.
Blinken, on his second trip to Israel in a month, is due to discuss with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concrete steps to minimize harm to civilians in besieged Gaza, where food, fuel, water and medicine are scarce.
The White House, meanwhile, said any pauses in fighting should be temporary and localized, and insisted they would not stop Israel defending itself. Blinken is due to meet Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman on Saturday (November 4).
(Reuters)
