Antony Blinken met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Wednesday.
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Visiting top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken discussed with his Saudi counterpart Wednesday the “urgent need” to protect civilians in war-torn Gaza and efforts to secure a ceasefire, the State Department said.
Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of State Blinken arrived in Jeddah for the first leg of a regional tour that expanded to include Israel, where he met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and then with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Salman held talks.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken and Prince Faisal “discussed the urgent need to protect all civilians in Gaza and immediately increase humanitarian assistance to those in need.”
“Blinken emphasized the importance of continuing to coordinate closely with regional and international partners to resolve the conflict in Gaza and prepare for the post-conflict phase,” Miller said.
The kingdom is the first stop on Blinken’s sixth Middle East trip since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7.
He is due to travel to Egypt, which borders Gaza, on Thursday and is involved in efforts to broker an armistice.
The next day, he will travel to Israel for a previously unscheduled visit that comes amid tensions between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Miller said the top diplomat would discuss “ongoing negotiations with Israeli officials to secure the release of all hostages in Gaza” as well as stepped up efforts to deliver aid to the besieged area.
Blinken will also “discuss the need to ensure the defeat of Hamas, including in Rafah, to protect civilians … and promote Israel’s overall security,” the spokesman said.
Washington has provided billions of dollars in military aid to Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack but has grown increasingly frustrated with its allies’ failure to curb civilian deaths or deliver vital aid.
Another major area of concern for the United States is the fate of Rafah, the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip.
Biden has pressured Netanyahu to withdraw a sweeping ground operation in the small region that is home to about 1.5 million people, most of whom have been displaced from elsewhere in the territory.
Miller said on Tuesday that Blinken would be in Jeddah and Cairo to discuss efforts to reach an “immediate ceasefire and secure the release of all remaining hostages.”
He will also discuss “the political path of the Palestinian people and Israel’s security guarantees and the architecture of lasting peace and security in the region” after the war, the spokesman added.
Blinken said on Tuesday that all Gazans now suffer “severe levels of acute food insecurity.”
“This is the first time an entire population has been classified in this way,” he said during a visit to the Philippines.
The United States is working to broker an eventual normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel that would require U.S. security guarantees for the Gulf kingdom, officials traveling with Blinken told AFP.
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