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Blinken Wraps 11th Israel Visit as Hostages’ Families Protest to Demand a Ceasefire

HeadlineOct 23, 2024

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Saudi Arabia after wrapping up talks with senior Israeli officials in Tel Aviv. The State Department says Blinken urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to revive Gaza ceasefire negotiations and pushed Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. On Tuesday evening, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Tel Aviv hotel where Blinken was meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. They were demanding the U.S. pressure Israel into making a ceasefire deal that would see the release of hostages held by Hamas. Protesters, many of them family members of hostages, held signs reading “No more war; no more bloodshed; free our state; free our hostages.”

Blinken’s 11th trip to the Middle East in just over a year comes as Axios reported the State Department is reviewing U.S. aid to Israeli units accused of killing, torturing and sexually assaulting Palestinians. ProPublica reported in April that a State Department panel had recommended as long ago as last December that multiple Israeli military and police units should be disqualified from receiving U.S. aid under the Leahy Amendment, the 1997 law that requires the United States to cut off financial aid to those credibly accused of human rights violations. Secretary Blinken still has not taken any action.

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