Anxious Arab leaders publicly and privately appealed to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Saturday, urging him to rein in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip. This increased pressure on the Biden administration as they try to convince Israel to reduce civilian casualties and allow more humanitarian aid.
The region and beyond have been fueled by anger due to civilian deaths. The United Nations condemned Israel’s bombing of a convoy of ambulances, stating that “nowhere is safe” in the territory.
The depth of emotion among Arab nations was evident in a news conference in Amman, Jordan on Saturday, where the country’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, directly told Mr. Blinken, “Stop this madness.” The Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza without conditions.
U.S. officials indicated that Arab leaders had delivered similarly strong messages privately to Mr. Blinken, expressing concerns that public outrage over Israel’s actions could create instability in their own countries. They informed Mr. Blinken that they could no longer handle domestic pressure regarding the high death toll among Palestinians and needed the Americans to take action.
These messages from Arab leaders on Saturday contrasted with what some of them privately told their American counterparts earlier in the conflict: that they were open to an aggressive Israeli campaign against Hamas, according to U.S. officials.
Mr. Blinken responded to the calls for an immediate cease-fire from Arab leaders by reiterating the United States’ position: that Israel had the right to defend itself but needed to minimize civilian casualties.
He stated, “It’s our view that a cease-fire now would simply leave Hamas in place and able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7. No nation — none of us — can accept that.”
It is not yet clear how the alarm expressed by Arab leaders will impact the Biden administration’s decision-making.
Mr. Blinken, who is currently touring the Middle East, has been leading diplomatic efforts to persuade Israel to allow the entry of assistance for Gaza civilians, who are trapped and desperate after almost a month of war. He has also been the leading advocate for the Biden administration in urging Israel to agree to pauses in the fighting to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the evacuation of foreign nationals from the area.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected this idea, stating that any pauses should be contingent on the release of all the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, although discussions between the parties are ongoing and there is hope that Israel will reverse its decision.
When President Biden was asked by a reporter on Saturday in Rehoboth Beach, Del. if there was any progress in achieving a humanitarian pause in Gaza, he responded, “Yes,” and gave a thumbs up without providing further details.
In a statement on Saturday night, a spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing claimed that the bodies of 23 hostages were missing under the rubble in Gaza after Israeli airstrikes. This claim could not be independently verified. Israeli officials dismissed such statements as “psychological warfare,” suggesting that Hamas is attempting to influence Israeli public opinion by stoking fear for the fate of the hostages held in Gaza even as the battle in the enclave continues.