Blinken arrives in Jordan to push Gaza aid

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Jordan on the second leg of his latest Mideast diplomatic mission to boost aid shipments to Gaza and champion a new proposal for an Israel-Hamas cease-fire that would include the release of hostages held by the militant group.

A day after saying in Saudi Arabia that Israel still needs to do more to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and that Israel’s latest cease-fire offer was “extraordinarily generous” to Hamas, Blinken was meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi in Amman. Their talks were expected to focus on those issues as well as planning for post-conflict reconstruction and governance of Gaza.

Blinken will then tour several aid facilities and meet the U.N. humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, before leaving for Israel. Blinken will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet in Tel Aviv on Wednesday as well as visit Gaza-aid related sites.

On Monday in Riyadh, Blinken also reiterated the Biden administration’s opposition to Israel mounting a major military operation against the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting farther north. Blinken said Israel has still not presented a credible plan to protect civilians if it goes ahead with such an offensive.

Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel would proceed with a Rafah operation “with or without” a cease-fire for hostages deal.