Blinken Urges Palestinian Reforms in Call With Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet in Ramallah on January 10. (EPA)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet in Ramallah on January 10. (EPA)
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Blinken Urges Palestinian Reforms in Call With Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet in Ramallah on January 10. (EPA)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet in Ramallah on January 10. (EPA)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Monday for further Palestinian reforms after the naming of a government in a call with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, as Washington seeks a post-war solution in Gaza.

Blinken told Abbas that the United States "looks forward to working with the new PA cabinet to promote peace, security and prosperity and urged the implementation of necessary reforms," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

"Secretary Blinken emphasized that a revitalized PA is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza," he said.

Abbas last week approved a new government led by Mohammed Mustafa, his long-trusted adviser on economic affairs, with representation also for women and Palestinians from Gaza.

Since the war broke out in October, the United States has been pressing for the Palestinian Authority to root out corruption and bring in new faces in hopes that the PA, which has limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank, can take charge of Gaza as well following a defeat of Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long fought against a Palestinian state, and his hard-right government have made clear they are not interested in a role for the Palestinian Authority.

But Miller said Blinken "underscored the US commitment to the realization of the creation of an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel."

Blinken spoke to Abbas shortly after the top US diplomat joined a virtual meeting with Israeli leaders on a planned offensive on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population has taken shelter since the war.

The United States has warned Israel against an assault but has also maintained its support for Israel including shipments of weapons.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.