Blinken heading to Middle East amid Israel-Hamas cease-fire
CBSN
Washington — Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to the Middle East on Monday at the request of President Biden as the fragile cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas continues to hold.
The State Department said in a statement Blinken will visit Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Jordan to discuss the truce and reduce the risks of further violence between Israel and Hamas. Beginning in Jerusalem, the secretary of state will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. Blinken will then travel to Ramallah to sit down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian leaders, followed by a trip to Cairo for a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Blinken will end his visit in Amman, Jordan, to meet with His Majesty King Abdullah II.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.