Antony Blinken continues his tour of the Middle East. The head of American diplomacy is in Jerusalem, Wednesday February 7. After his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, thehe Secretary of State said from Jerusalem that he was discussing with Israel “additional steps” to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel and plunged into a major humanitarian crisis. “We all have an obligation to do everything possible to bring the necessary help to all those who desperately need it”he added. Follow our live stream.
A “positive” response from Hamas to a truce project, says Qatar. Led by Doha and Egypt, the initiative provides for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a pause in the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian movement. Hamas confirmed that it had submitted its response to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators but without specifying its content.
Fighting continues in the Gaza Strip. The bombings particularly affected the Gazan towns of Khan Younes and Rafah. More than 1.3 million displaced people are now crowded into the latter, in desperate conditions.
DIsraeli strikes in Syria kill five people. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, three civilians are among the victims of these bombings in the Homs region. Syrian state television broadcast footage showing rescuers searching through the rubble of what appeared to be a collapsed building, and carrying a person on a stretcher.