U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly postponed a trip to the Middle East over heightened security concerns in the region and a possible retaliatory strike from Iran against Israel.
Blinken’s trip, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was delayed over "uncertainty about the situation," Axios reported, citing two unnamed sources.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a news conference at the State Department on March 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The delayed trip comes ahead of planned cease-fire talks later this week after more than 10 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas fired two rockets aimed at Tel Aviv on Tuesday while Israel launched separate deadly airstrikes in Gaza.
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Despite the ongoing violence, U.S. officials said Monday they expected the talks to resume Thursday as planned.
The leaders of Britain, France and Germany on Monday urged Iran and its allies to refrain from retaliatory attacks against Israel in response to the assassination of a top Hamas commander in Tehran last month.
Smoke billows after Israel launched an airstrike on the Al Mughraqa area in the Gaza Strip, on April 14, 2024. (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Israel was immediately blamed for the assassination after pledging to kill Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state, which killed 1,200 people and saw hundreds more taken hostage.
The Palestinian death toll is nearing 40,000 people, per figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
European leaders have also backed a push by mediators from the U.S., Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war.
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Mediators have spent months trying to get both sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its Oct. 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Gaza.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.