US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Riyadh as part of Middle East trip aimed at securing ceasefire and increasing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
He urged Israel to do more in terms of allowing more humanitarian aid into the Strip while noting some progress.

Blinken also told Gulf Arab allies that Iran’s confrontation with Israel showed the need for greater defence integration.
“This attack highlights the acute and growing threat from Iran but also the imperative that we work together on integrated defence,” he said.

The US secretary of state also has spoken about the US-brokered normalisation process between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
He stressed that American and Saudi officials have done “intense work in the past months” on the matter.

The top US diplomat has renewed Washington’s opposition to an Israeli offensive on Gaza’s southernmost city ahead of his trip to Israel.
“We have not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that civilians can be effectively protected,” Blinken said at the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister says agreements between the kingdom and the US are “very very close”.
“Most of the work has already been done. We have the broad outlines of what we think needs to happen on the Palestinian front,” Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum’s special meeting in Riyadh.
Blinken, who was on the same panel, added that an agreement “is potentially very close to completion”.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra says the US hopes to achieve a ceasefire, which explains why Hamas has dispatched its deputy leader and a team to Cairo.

“The Americans are hoping this could be conducive to something broader – more stability in the region. But also for a broader normalisation between key Arab countries and the Israelis,” he explained.

“Now it was interesting to hear [US Secretary of State] Antony Blinken saying the Israelis have offered Hamas an “extraordinarily generous” deal and that Hamas should accept the terms of that deal”.

Ahelbarra added that his sources have told him they are remaining “cautiously optimistic” about a ceasefire deal.

“[But] I have to say frustration has taken over more than a sense of optimism about a deal any time soon,” he said.

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