U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Amman Tuesday with Jordan’s top leaders and the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Gaza amid a push to seal a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas and bring in more aid to the Gaza Strip.
Blinken held separate talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and King Abdullah II, before his meeting with Sigrid Kaag, U.N. senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.
During his meeting with Abdullah, Blinken discussed efforts to reach a cease-fire that secures the release of hostages and emphasized that Hamas should accept the proposal on the table.
Blinken also discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to achieve enduring peace in the region, including through a pathway to an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel.
Blinken thanked Abdullah for Jordan’s leadership in facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, including joint U.S.-Jordan airdrops that to date have delivered over 1,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
The two leaders discussed joint efforts to expedite the flow of additional urgently needed aid to Gaza from Jordan through land routes. Blinken also commended the king’s commitment to economic modernization and vital public sector reforms.
Later on Tuesday, Blinken met with Palestinians from Gaza at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs before meeting with Kaag. Blinken told Kaag he was anxious to hear directly from her, adding, “The entire team is doing extraordinary work to ensure that people in Gaza get the help and support and the assistance they need.”
On Monday during a stop in Saudi Arabia, Blinken also said he was hopeful Hamas will accept what he characterized as Israel’s “extraordinarily generous” offer for a cease-fire in Gaza in return for the release of hostages.
"In this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas," Blinken said in Riyadh. "They have to decide — and they have to decide quickly."
Israel declared war on Hamas after its October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages.
"I'm hopeful that they will make the right decision,” Blinken said. "We can have a fundamental change in the dynamic."
A delegation from Hamas participated in talks Monday in Egypt, which with Qatar has been seeking to broker a deal that would halt the Israeli offensive and see hostages freed.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, a figure that Israel says includes several thousand Hamas fighters.
Blinken said in Riyadh that the United States is close to finishing a security agreement with Saudi Arabia that would be offered if the country makes peace with Israel.
“The work that Saudi Arabia, the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion,” Blinken told an audience at the World Economic Forum.
He added the two nations have done intensive work together over the last month on Israeli-Saudi normalization.
Blinken disclosed that he was scheduled to be in Saudi Arabia and Israel on October 10 last year to focus specifically on the Palestinian part of the normalization deal because that is an essential component. But it did not happen because of the Hamas terror attack on Israel.
“In order to move forward with normalization, two things will be required: Calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken said.
U.S. officials have said creating a pathway to a Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel is key to lasting peace and security in the Middle East and to Israel's integration in the region.
The Saudis have demanded, as a prerequisite, to see an Israeli commitment to the two-state solution.
Blinken met for nearly an hour Monday with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the Gaza conflict and ongoing tensions in the Mideast. Following his stop in Jordan, Blinken heads to Israel, where he is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.
Netanyahu has rejected the two-state solution and the return of the Palestinian Authority to control Gaza, demands that are widely supported by the international community.
Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow for Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute, told VOA in an email, “Saudi Arabia has been gradually opening towards Israel for a decade. Significant progress was made in the months prior to the Hamas attack of October 7, with the hope of linking an Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement to a pre-presidential election, U.S.-Saudi defense pact. The war stalled the process, but talks are continuing and are at a decisive phase.”
If Netanyahu's opposition to the two-state solution remains unchanged, Goren added, he might struggle to secure normalization with Saudi Arabia.
Humanitarian assistance
Speaking at a meeting with the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh earlier Monday, Blinken said the best way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is for there to be a cease-fire.
Some analysts said the United States needs to fully enforce its law and arms policy on Israel to ensure accountability and adequate humanitarian aid delivery.
Ari Tolany, director of the Center for International Policy's security assistance monitor, told VOA, “U.S. law and policy will need to hold its largest recipient of security assistance to account for a meaningful peace.”
