Antony Blinken to be in Israel for his sixth visit since 7 October Hamas attack

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be in Israel from February 3 to February 5, his sixth to the country ever since the war began in October as retaliation to a dastardly attack by Hamas. His last visit was marked by intense discussions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet. The latest visit comes amid a fading prospect for a peace deal between Hamas and Israel even as US’ own concerns in West Asia have got entangled with Iran allegedly hitting a US base in Jordan in a drone strike, killing three soldiers and hurting scores others. While the Biden administration has so far avoided getting into a proxy war with Iran, despite the Houthi aggression in the Red Sea stemming from Yemen, the Jordan strikes have left little room to wriggle out of it now. After the Jordan strike, US has already issued a terse warning for a befitting reply. Moreover, Blinken will arrive to a different scenario in which Israel has exposed UN agency UNRWA for its complicity with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Blinken had earlier dubbed as “highly credible” the evidence to this effect which Israel provided by way of a detailed dossier. “We haven’t had the ability to investigate (the allegations) ourselves. But they are highly, highly credible,” Blinken had said.