AMMAN: Top European and US diplomats sought ways on Sunday to keep the Gaza conflict from spreading in the region after three months of bloodshed in the Strip.
The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the European Union’s top official Josep Borrell, were on separate visits to the Middle East to try to quell spillover from the conflict into Lebanon, the West Bank and Red Sea shipping tracks.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the they have an intense focus on halting this conflict from spreading into the region.
Western Envoys Seek to Halt Gaza Spillover After Three Months of Conflict
Jordan’s King Abdullah asked Blinken to use the US’s influence over Israel to press it for an immediate truce, a palace statement stated, also warning him of the “catastrophic consequences” of Israel’s continued military offensive.
Meanwhile, the health ministry in Gaza said that at least 22,835 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the ongoing Israeli bombardments in the besieged Palestinian territory since October 7. The ministry reported that at least 113 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours alone, with at least 58,416 people wounded during the three-month Israeli military onslaught.
The latest Israeli airstrikes, conducted overnight and into Sunday, killed at least 64 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry. Among the casualties were two journalists, Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for AFP, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza. The Israeli bombardment also resulted in civilian casualties in the southern city of Khan Younis and the Rafah area near the Egyptian border.
