Blinken visits Middle East in bid to solidify fragile Israel-Gaza truce

Gaza — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday, beginning a tour of the Middle East aimed at solidifying the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. 253 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed in the 11-day conflict that was halted early on Friday by a tenuous truce agreement.

Blinken, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the region since President Joe Biden took office, is expected to focus also on reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, where an estimated 77,000 Palestinians were displaced by the Israeli airstrikes. Gaza's infrastructure was also damaged in the fighting, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without fresh running water.