US secretary of state Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Sunday as Washington intensified its diplomatic push to secure a deal for ending the war between Israel and Hamas and freeing the hostages still held in Gaza.
The US and Arab states view an agreement as the best way of preventing the war between Israel and Hamas from spiralling into a full-blown regional conflict, after Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hizbollah pledged to retaliate for the assassinations of two senior militants last month.
Blinken was due to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials on Monday. His latest trip comes before a meeting in Cairo later this week where the US, Qatar and Egypt, mediators between Israel and Hamas, are hoping to broker a ceasefire.