Palestinian statehood best way to marginalise Iran, says Blinken amid Israeli offensive in Gaza

Amid the ongoing military operations in Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said that the most effective way for Israel to improve regional relations and marginalise Iran is to reach an agreement on a Palestinian state to resolve the conflict, according to The Jerusalem Post report. Addressing the media in Egyptian capital, Cairo, as he wrapped up a week-long trip that also included visits with top officials in Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Bahrain, Blinken said, “One can have an integrated region with Israel - integrated with security assurances and commitments from regional countries, as well as from the United States - and a Palestinian state, or one can continue to see the terrorism, the nihilism, the destruction by Hamas, by the Houthis, by Hezbollah -all backed by Iran.” “If you build that integration, if you bring Israel in, if you make the necessary commitments to security, and you move down the path to a Palestinian state, that’s the single best way to isolate, to marginalise Iran and the proxies,” Blinken added. He said that this is the the path America fully intend to pursue with its diplomacy in the weeks and months ahead. “The choice between these two paths is clear to many leaders in the region. It’s also the path that we fully intend to pursue with American diplomacy in the weeks and months ahead,” Blinken said. During his trip, Blinken focussed on the details specific to the war on Hamas, which broke out after terrorists crossed over into southern Israel from Gaza on October 7, last year, killing an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and sneaking back with about 250 hostages, The Jerusalem Post reported. Blinken backed Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza and emphasised the significance of ensuring its security. He also emphasised the importance of freeing the hostages and spoke of the US work on that effort with Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating release efforts. Blinken, however, also took issue with the high fatality count in Gaza, based on Hamas assertions that over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing military operations. The fatality count, however, was quoted by Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians killed. Israel has asserted that it has killed more than 8,000 Hamas combatants in Gaza. With inputs from agencies