Blinken back in Middle East to push Gaza ceasefire plan
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was back in the Middle East on Monday to promote a Gaza truce and hostage release plan as Israeli bombardment again rocked the besieged Palestinian territory.
After a stop in Egypt to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Blinken was due to head to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how to end the conflict raging since Hamas's October 7 attack.
Netanyahu has been politically buoyed in Israel by a successful, though bloody, hostage rescue mission on Saturday -- but damaged by the departure of a member of his war cabinet, Benny Gantz, on Sunday.
Gantz, a former army chief, criticised Netanyahu especially for failing to outline a post-war governance plan for Gaza, arguing that tough decisions are needed to achieve "real victory".
The centrist also challenged Netanyahu to set a date for elections, a demand shared by a protest movement that has regularly and noisily taken to Israel's streets against the right-wing government.
Blinken was also expected to meet Gantz during his visit, a senior US official said.
The war meanwhile ground on unabated, with witnesses reporting helicopter gunfire and naval shelling hitting Gaza City, and air strikes raining down on Deir al-Balah.
Street battles raged in the southern areas of Rafah and Khan Yunis, where bodies were seen lying in the streets and Palestinian civilians were fleeing, an AFP correspondent said.
The latest clashes follow major combat and heavy airstrikes during Saturday's hostage rescue mission in the Nuseirat camp.
'Bloodbath must end'
"People were screaming -- young and old, women and men," recounted Muhannad Thabet, 35, a local resident who survived the fighting.
burs-jd/fz/ami
