Before flying to Riyadh to push normalisation, Blinken stresses chance to end war

As he prepared to take off for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to take advantage of the opportunity created by the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and defeating Hamas’s military formations to bring the war to a successful conclusion.

“Now is the time to turn those successes into an enduring strategic success. And there are really two things left to do, get the hostages home and bring the war to an end with an understanding of what will follow,” Blinken told reporters at Ben Gurion International Airport.

In his meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials the day before, Blinken offered a similar message, according to the State Department.

Blinken noted on the tarmac that there has been more aid entering Gaza recently, “but more progress needs to be made and, most critically, it needs to be sustained.”

US President Joe Biden’s administration issued a letter last week warning that Israel’s continued receipt of offensive US weapons was at risk if Jerusalem didn’t take massive steps to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by mid-November.

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