Blinken will travel to Israel amid the new Gaza war

The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, will travel to Israel to express his support for the authorities of that country in the face of the unprecedented attack by Hamas, which has led to a new war with Gaza.

The head of American diplomacy will also visit Jordan. His plane is expected to take off tomorrow, Wednesday, from Washington and land in the region on Thursday.

President Joe Biden has tasked him with carrying the message that “the United States is on Israel's side,” Blinken himself revealed to the press.

Since Saturday's attack, Blinken has held dozens of calls with his counterparts in the Middle East to express the United States' unwavering support for Israel and to seek international condemnation of Hamas' actions.

He has also urged governments that have relations with Hamas to pressure the Palestinian Islamist group to release all hostages and to discourage other regional actors from entering the conflict.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller explained in a press conference that Blinken will bring to Israel “a message of solidarity and support,” and will offer help to Israelis “in their fight against the terrorists who launched these horrible attacks.”

Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again on Tuesday and then promised in an institutional statement that his country will give Israel everything it needs to defend itself.

The president also confirmed that there are American citizens among those kidnapped by Hamas and raised to 14 the number of US nationals who have died in Israel.

For his part, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan detailed that there are at least 20 missing Americans, although he clarified that this does not mean that all of them are Hamas hostages.

Sullivan ruled out the deployment of US troops on the ground for now and stated that the aircraft carrier that the Pentagon has mobilized in the region is not to combat Hamas but to dissuade other actors, such as Iran or Hezbollah, from attacking Israel.

Biden's advisor reiterated that, although Iran has financed Hamas for years, the United States has no evidence that the Iranian Executive was behind the attack.

The official death toll in Israel exceeds 900, although the bodies found in the liberated areas today may increase the number, and the injured exceed 2,900, while the intense bombings on the Strip have also left 900 dead and more than 4,500 injured. .