US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived at Ben
Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv along with a team of officials on Thursday,
Israel-based i24 News English reported.
His visit to Tel Aviv comes amid the ongoing conflict
between Israel and Hamas after the latter launched an attack on October 7.
The US officials accompanying Blinken include his
counsellor Derek Chollet, his Deputy Chief of Staff Tom Sullivan, US Department
of State spokesperson Matthew Miller, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern
Affairs Barbara Leaf, Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr,
and Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Steve Gillen.
During his visit, Blinken will hold a meeting with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Brigadier General Gal Hirsch and
other Israeli officials.
After concluding his visit to Israel, Blinken will
meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Abbas
in Amman.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his departure from US,
Blinken said, “We are heading, as you know, to Israel, and I’m going with a
very simple and clear message on behalf of the President of United States and
on behalf of the American people, and that is that the United States has Israel’s
back. We have the back of the Israeli people. We have their back today. We’ll
have it tomorrow. We will have it every day.”
Blinken said he would meet with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Issac Herzog and other senior
officials in Israel.
The Secretary stated that he is looking forward to
meeting the US embassy team in Israel. He said that the US is determined to provide
everything that Israel needs to defend itself.
He further said, “We’re determined to make sure that
Israel gets everything it needs to defend itself, and provide for the security
of its people. Already, significant military assistance requested by Israel is
on the way. That’s on top of everything that we’ve been doing for years,
including with the memorandum of understanding that was negotiated by President
Obama, to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.”
The death toll in Israel since the Hamas attack has
jumped to 1,300 and some 3,300 have been injured, including 28 in critical
condition and 350 in serious condition, The Times of Israel reported citing
Hebrew media reports.
The fate of an estimated 150 people abducted and taken
to the Gaza Strip during the attack by Hamas is still unclear, the report said.
ANI
