Middle East crisis live: Blinken heads to Israel as defence minister outlines plan for post-war Gaza | Middle East and north Africa

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is due to arrive in the Middle East for the fourth time in three months, on a tour expected to focus largely on easing resurgent fears that the Israel-Gaza war could erupt into a broader conflict.

With international criticism of Israel’s operations in Gaza mounting, growing US concerns about the end game, and more immediate worries about a recent explosion in attacks in the Red Sea, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, Blinken will have a packed and difficult agenda, AP reports.

He arrives a day after a US strike on Baghdad killed the commander of an Iranian-backed Shia militia. Earlier in the week a suspected Israeli attack killed a senior Hamas leader in Beirut and dozens of people were killed in Iran in a double bombing claimed by Islamic State.

“We don’t expect every conversation on this trip to be easy,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “There are obviously tough issues facing the region and difficult choices ahead. But the secretary believes it is the responsibility of the United States of America to lead diplomatic efforts to tackle those challenges head on, and he’s prepared to do that in the days to come.”

Blinken left late Thursday on his latest extended Mideast tour, which will take him to Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt.

Apart from Gaza-specific priorities he will bring to Israel – including pressing for a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, a shift toward less intense military operations and a concerted effort to rein in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank by Jewish settlers – Blinken will be seeking regional assistance in calming the situation.

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US secretary of state Antony Blinken is set to arrive in the Middle East, a day after a US airstrike in Baghdad on Thursday killed the commander of an Iranian-backed Shia militia that Washington blames for attacks on American forces in the region.

Fears are growing over tensions in the region; in addition to the US strike, a suspected Israeli attack killed a senior Hamas leader in Beirut earlier this week and on Wednesday dozens of people were killed in a double bombing in Iran, claimed by Islamic State.

Criticism is also growing of the US role in Israel’s war on Gaza, to which Washington has given its staunch support even as it struggles to persuade Israel to take a more targeted approach against Hamas.

Blinken is set to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank, as well as Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt over the next week, the US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, told reporters.

As well as attempting to calm tensions he will be pressing Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and rein in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

More on that soon. In other developments:

• More than 22,438 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, the majority of them women and children, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday. The figures include 125 Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours. At least 12 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a home in al-Mawasi evacuation zone, Palestinian hospital officials said. The blast reportedly killed a man and his wife, seven of their children and three other children ranging in age from five to 14.

• The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said it is deeply concerned for the safety of its staff and others who are sheltering at al-Amal hospital and PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. In a statement, the PRCS said the hospital compound has been subject to “repeated direct targeting” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for the past three days, and that seven people had been killed, including a five-year-old baby.

• Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said that there will be no Israeli civilian presence in Gaza and Palestinian bodies will be “in charge” of the territory after the war ends. In a statement by his office on Thursday, Gallant also outlined Israel’s new phase in its war on Gaza, including that Israel will “transition to a new combat approach in accordance with military achievements on the ground” in the northern region of the Gaza Strip.

• Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is seeking a “fundamental change” on Israel’s border with Lebanon. The Israeli prime minister, at a meeting with US special envoy Amos Hochstein on Thursday, said he was committed to resettling evacuated residents from Israel’s north back in their homes safely. Separately, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said there must be a “new reality” that would allow Israelis who have evacuated from northern areas of the country to return, referring to the repeated exchanges of fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.

• Thousands of people took to the streets of Beirut for the funeral of one of Hamas’s most senior officials, Saleh al-Arouri, who was killed earlier this week in an Israeli drone strike in the Lebanese capital. The general secretary of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, who addressed the killing in a speech televised nationally in Lebanon, is expected to speak about the issue again on Friday amid speculation over the likely response of both Hezbollah and Hamas.

• Islamic State has claimed responsibility for two explosions at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate commander Qassem Suleimani. At least 84 Iranians were killed and scores more injured in the attack on Wednesday, which came at a memorial ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds force. The US is “in no position to doubt” the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility, the White House has said.

• A Houthi drone boat laden with explosives detonated in the Red Sea on Thursday, a senior US military officer said, just hours after the US and its allies warned the Iran-backed militia group to stop attacks or face “consequences”.

• Several Gulf Arab states have strongly condemned remarks by two Israeli government ministers this week calling for Palestinians to emigrate from Gaza. Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has called on Palestinians to leave Gaza and make way for Israelis who could “make the desert bloom” while national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for promoting “a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza’s residents” and the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory. The UN’s top human rights official, Volker Türk, said he was “very disturbed” by the statements.

• Three Israelis who were considered missing since the Hamas attacks on 7 October are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said. This brings the number of people held hostage in Gaza since the attacks on Israel to 132, according to figures provided by Israeli officials.

• The IDF said they have killed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) northern Gaza operations chief, Mamdouh Lolo, in an airstrike in northern Gaza. The IDF said the strike was a joint operation with Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet. Separately, the IDF said it raided and destroyed a Hamas military compound along the central coast of the Gaza Strip, including an underground tunnel system that led to a facility that was used

• At least 120 Palestinians were detained during an Israeli military raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday, according to reports. The IDF said they had detained hundreds of people suspected of militant activities.