Blinken meets Netanyahu in Jerusalem

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. In the meantime, talks are underway in Cairo on the ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, Voice of America reports.

Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Matthew Miller said Blinken “noted that it is Hamas that stands in the way of a ceasefire”.

Blinken told Netanyahu that the U.S. does not approve of the Israeli leader’s call for a ground assault on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Israel claims that there are four Hamas battalions there, which it plans to eliminate.

“We cannot and will not support a major military operation in Rafah absent an effective plan to make sure that civilians are not harmed, and now we have not seen such a plan,” Blinken said at a press conference in Ashdod, Israel.