Western diplomats seek to prevent Gaza spillover after three months of war
investing.comBy Ari Rabinovitch, Simon Lewis and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/AMMAN/CAIRO (Reuters) -Top U.S and European diplomats sought ways on Sunday to keep the Gaza war from spreading in the Middle East, but three months after the conflict erupted, more bloodshed underlined the challenge and Israel was set on pressing its campaign.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, were on separate trips to the region to try to quell spillover from the war into Lebanon, the West Bank and Red Sea shipping lanes, where Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have vowed to keep up attacks until Israel halts its campaign in the Palestinian enclave.
«We have an intense focus on preventing this conflict from spreading,» said Blinken, who was in Jordan on Sunday and will also travel to Israel, the West Bank, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt during his fourth trip to the region.
Jordan's King Abdullah urged Blinken to use Washington's influence over Israel to press it for an immediate ceasefire, a palace statement said, warning him of the «catastrophic repercussions» of Israel's continued military campaign.
Despite global concern over the death and destruction in Gaza and international pressure for a ceasefire, Israeli public opinion remains firmly behind the operation aimed at wiping out the Hamas group that rules Gaza, although there has been a big drop in support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He has not taken responsibility for the security failures that allowed Hamas to attack southern Israel on Oct. 7. But he has vowed to press on with the retaliatory action.
«The war must not be stopped until we achieve all the goals — the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our
Read more on investing.com
