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Top US Diplomat Heads Back to Middle East Amid Regional Escalation Fears
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media prior to departure from Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, on Dec. 1, 2023. Photo: SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS
US top diplomat Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East on Thursday, continuing the Biden administration’s intense diplomacy over Israel‘s three-month long conflict with Hamas, as fears of a broader regional conflagration grow.
The US secretary of state’s weeklong trip — his fourth to the region since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel sparked a massive Israeli air and ground assault — will include visits to Israel and the West Bank, as well as Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. He also will make stops in Turkey and Greece.
Blinken will repeat his calls to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza while attempting to make progress on the sensitive subject of how the Gaza Strip could be managed after the war, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
Blinken travels with concerns of regional escalation in the spotlight. After a drone strike on Tuesday killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in the Lebanese capital Beirut, the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has exchanged fire with Israel from southern Lebanon, said his powerful Shi’ite terror group “cannot be silent.”
The US military on Thursday carried out a retaliatory strike in Baghdad that killed a leader of a separate Iran-backed militia it blames for recent attacks on US personnel, a US official told Reuters.
The conflict has also crept into vital Red Sea shipping lanes. The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have launched drones and missiles at more than 20 ships since Nov. 19.
“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,” Miller said, adding that Blinken would discuss unspecified steps the parties can take to avoid escalation.
In response to Hamas’ cross-border assault in which Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and abducted some 240, Israel unleashed a ground and air blitz in Gaza to incapacitate the terror group, which rules the neighboring Palestinian enclave.
Visits to NATO allies Turkey and Greece are also on Blinken’s agenda. Turkey is expected to soon approve Sweden’s NATO membership, but its lengthy deliberation has frustrated Turkey’s Western allies, including US lawmakers who are holding up the sale of F-16 fighter jets until Ankara signs off on the addition to the alliance.
FUTURE OF GAZA
Blinken is expected to revive US appeals to Israeli leaders to reduce the impact of its operation in Gaza on civilians. As on previous trips, Blinken will also try to begin discussions on how Gaza will be run if and when Israel achieves its goal of eradicating Hamas, which has run the strip since 2007.
“We will discuss the need for combined governance that unites … the West Bank and Gaza under Palestinian leadership, but what the specifics look like I will keep for private diplomatic conversations,” Miller said.
Israel’s Arab neighbors have pushed back, insisting that securing a ceasefire should be the priority.
US officials have backed Israel in its rejection of genocide charges made at the International Criminal Court by South Africa, while pressing Israel to do more to protect civilians.
Washington this week criticized two Israeli ministers for advocating resettling Palestinians outside Gaza, saying Israel had assured US officials the statements do not reflect policy.
Miller acknowledged the challenges facing Blinken. “We don’t expect every conversation on this trip to be easy,” he said.
The post Top US Diplomat Heads Back to Middle East Amid Regional Escalation Fears first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.