Warning Israel, Hamas and region ‘locked in cycles of violence’

Top US diplomat touches down in Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday, intending to pressure Israel to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken – on his second trip to the Middle East since the start of the Israel Hamas war on 7 October – is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

He is also expected to participate in a security cabinet meeting. 

“We are going to talk about concrete steps that can and must be taken to minimise the harm to the men, women and children of Gaza,” Blinken said before leaving Washington.

Risk of regional spillover ‘real’ – UAE

The minister of state at the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cautioned regional tensions are “approaching a boiling point”.

“The risk of regional spillover and further escalation is real, as well as the risk that extremist groups will take advantage of the situation to advance ideologies that will keep us locked in cycles of violence,” Noura al-Kaabi told a policy conference in Abu Dhabi.

Al-Kaabi said the UAE, which established full diplomatic relations with Israel in a US-brokered deal in 2020, is working “relentlessly” for a humanitarian ceasefire.

“Every effort must be made to protect civilians and immediately put an end to this conflict,” she added.

Washington approves billions in Israel military aid

The House approved a nearly $14.5 billion (€13.6 bn) military aid package on Thursday for Israel, a muscular US response to the war with Hamas. 

In a departure from norms, the Republican package required that the emergency aid be offset with cuts in government spending elsewhere. 

Biden has said he would veto the bill, which was approved 226-196, with 12 Democrats joining most Republicans on a largely party-line vote.

New speaker Mike Johnson said the package would provide Israel with the assistance needed to defend itself, free hostages held by Hamas and eradicate the militant Palestinian group. 

Israel sends back Gazan workers

Israel announced Thursday night it would send all Gazan workers, who have been stranded since the Hamas attack, back to the Palestinian enclave.  

It vowed to “cut all ties” with the territory. 

“Gaza workers who were in Israel on the day the war began will be sent back to Gaza,” the Israeli security cabinet said in a statement.

“Israel cuts all ties with Gaza, there will be no more Palestinian workers from Gaza,” it stressed.

Some 18,500 Gazans had work permits in Israel at the start of the war, according to Cogat, the Israeli Defense Ministry’s arm overseeing civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories.

Contacted by AFP, Cogat did not say how many Gazan workers were in Israel at the start of the conflict. This figure has been put at up to 4,000 people by Israeli media.

Israel is currently battering the Gaza Strip with continued strikes, following the Hamas attack which killed at least 1,400 in the country’s south. 

Strikes in Gaza have killed more than 9,000 people, mostly civilians, since fighting broke out, with UN experts warning Palestinians “are at serious risk of genocide”.