United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the Middle East this week, the US State Department said on Tuesday, as Washington pushes for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza to allow the release of hostages kidnapped by the Palestinian group.
Blinken will visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt and will meet with senior leaders in both countries, the State Department said.
Providing more humanitarian aid into Gaza as well as discussing post-war planning for the enclave will be among the topics he will discuss with Saudi and Egyptian official.
He will head to Jeddah on Wednesday before flying out to Cairo on Thursday.
Blinken is currently in Asia, where he attended a democracy summit in South Korea.
This will be Blinken's sixth trip to the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7.
The war began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack from Gaza on October 7 that left about 1,160 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Hamas fighters also seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, of whom Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead.
Israel has carried out a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive that Gaza's health ministry says has killed at least 31,726 people, most of them women and children.
The United Nations has warned for weeks that a famine is looming in Gaza, with aid agencies reporting huge difficulties gaining access to the territory, particularly the north.
Donors have turned to deliveries by air or sea, but these are not viable alternatives to land deliveries, UN agencies say.
