Amid the ongoing military operations in Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said the best way for Israel to normalise regional ties and isolate Iran is to agree on a Palestinian state for the resolution of the conflict, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.
"One can have an integrated region with Israel--integrated with security assurances and commitments from regional countries, as well as from the United States--and a Palestinian state, or one can continue to see the terrorism, the nihilism, the destruction by Hamas, by the Houthis, by Hezbollah--all backed by Iran," Blinken said.
The US Secretary of State made these remarks while addressing media persons in Egyptian capital, Cairo, as he wrapped up a week-long trip that also included visits with top officials in Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Bahrain.
"If you build that integration, if you bring Israel in, if you make the necessary commitments to security, and you move down the path to a Palestinian state, that's the single best way to isolate, to marginalise Iran and the proxies," Blinken said.
"The choice between these two paths is clear to many leaders in the region. It's also the path that we fully intend to pursue with American diplomacy in the weeks and months ahead," he added.
During his trip, Blinken focussed on the details specific to the war on Hamas, which broke out after terrorists crossed over into southern Israel from Gaza on October 7, last year, killing an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and sneaking back with about 250 hostages, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Blinken backed Israel's military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza and emphasised the significance of ensuring its security.
He also emphasised the importance of freeing the hostages and spoke of the US work on that effort with Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating release efforts.
Blinken, however, also took issue with the high fatality count in Gaza, based on Hamas assertions that over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing military operations.
The fatality count, however, was quoted by Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians killed.
Israel has asserted that it has killed more than 8,000 Hamas combatants in Gaza.
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