US Top Diplomat Blinken Speaks with Israeli and Palestinian Leaders

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media at a press conference in the State Department’s briefing room in Washington, DC, USA, 15 August 2023. (EPA)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media at a press conference in the State Department’s briefing room in Washington, DC, USA, 15 August 2023. (EPA)
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US Top Diplomat Blinken Speaks with Israeli and Palestinian Leaders

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media at a press conference in the State Department’s briefing room in Washington, DC, USA, 15 August 2023. (EPA)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media at a press conference in the State Department’s briefing room in Washington, DC, USA, 15 August 2023. (EPA)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday spoke with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the State Department said.

Blinken spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about expanding Israel’s regional integration and countering threats posed by Iran, the department said in a statement.

In a separate statement, the State Department said Blinken expressed continued concern about ongoing violence in the West Bank when he spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

They also discussed their support for a two-state solution and opposition to actions endangering its viability, the department said.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Gaza as War Grinds Into the New Year

A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Gaza as War Grinds Into the New Year

A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli strikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, officials said Wednesday, as the nearly 15-month war ground on into the new year with no end in sight.

One strike hit a home in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, the most isolated and heavily destroyed part of the territory, where Israel has been waging a major operation since early October, The Associated Press reported.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says seven people were killed, including a woman and four children, and that at least a dozen other people were wounded.
Another strike overnight into Wednesday in the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed a woman and a child, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.

A third strike early Wednesday in the southern city of Khan Younis killed three people, according to the nearby Nasser Hospital and the European Hospital, which received the bodies.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times.
Hundreds of thousands are living in tents on the coast as winter brings frequent rainstorms and temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius at night. At least four infants have died of hypothermia.