Antony Blinken rebuffs Arab push for truce

GAZA STRIP: Palestinian Territories: Arab leaders on Saturday urged an immediate ceasefire in Israel's military offensive in Gaza, pressing US secretary of state

Antony Blinken

to convince Israel, but the top US diplomat said such a halt right now would only allow Palestinian militant group Hamas to regroup and attack Israel again.
In a rare public disagreement at a news conference in Amman, foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt, standing alongside Blinken, repeatedly pushed for a cessation of hostilities, saying the death of thousands of civilians could not be justified as self-defense.

Blinken is on his second trip to the region since Israel and Hamas went to war on October 7.
Turkey said on Saturday it was recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations due to Israel's refusal to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.
As Israel battled into the fifth week Saturday, its army said troops had launched an operation in southern Gaza overnight -- deadly strikes hit an ambulance convoy and a school-turned-refugee shelter in the besieged Palestinian enclave. The health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, said at least 12 people had been killed when Israel struck the United Nations school. The ministry also said over 9,480 Gazans, mostly women and children, have been killed so far in Israeli strikes.

Israeli forces have encircled Gaza's largest city, trying to crush Hamas in retaliation for October 7 raids into Israel that officials say killed around 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
The Israeli military said it had come under attack several times from Hamas "tunnel shafts and military compounds" in northern Gaza and had killed many "terrorists" and destroyed three observation posts.