Hamas official calls on US to put pressure on Israel to end Gaza war

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) – A senior Hamas official on Monday urged the United States to put pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza, ahead of a planned visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday to push for a ceasefire.

On Monday, Blinken will visit Egypt and Israel. He also wants to prevent the war from spreading to Lebanon.

“We call on the US government to put pressure on the occupying power to end the war in Gaza. The Hamas movement is ready to positively support any initiative that ensures an end to the war,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official.

Blinken will also travel to Jordan and Qatar this week on his eighth visit to the region since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, which triggered the bloodiest episode in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo before traveling to Israel later Monday, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a State Department schedule.

Palestinian residents reported on Monday that tanks attempted to advance further north in the early hours of the morning and approach Shaboura, one of the most densely populated insurgent-held neighborhoods in the heart of the city.

Since then, Israeli tank troops have taken over the entire Gaza border strip with Egypt, which runs through Rafah to the Mediterranean coast, and have penetrated numerous districts of the city of 280,000 inhabitants. Around a million people who had sought refuge in Rafah have had to flee elsewhere.

Blinken’s visit comes after US President Joe Biden on May 31 outlined a three-stage ceasefire proposal from Israel that includes a permanent end to hostilities, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

According to Israeli sources, 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack and around 250 others were taken hostage. In response, Israel launched an attack on the Gaza Strip in which more than 37,000 Palestinians were killed, the health ministry of the Hamas-controlled territory said in its Sunday update.

(Reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Angus MacSwan)