Washington’s top diplomat is expected to be one of the leaders at a Saudi-hosted economic summit scheduled to begin on Sunday, organizers said, with a focus on the raging war in Gaza.
World Economic Forum (WEF) President Borge Brende told a press conference in Riyadh on Saturday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would be “on his way directly from his visit to China to Israel.”
Other participants at the two-day special WEF meeting include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and foreign ministers and prime ministers from across the Middle East and Europe.
These include the foreign ministers of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union, and the prime ministers of Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, according to a WEF press release.
Brende said on Saturday that a total of 12 heads of state and government were among the more than 1,000 participants.
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“There is now new momentum in hostage negotiations and a possible way out of the impasse we are facing in Gaza,” Brende said, without elaborating.
“Of course, the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza will also be discussed,” and “regional aspects with Iran will also be discussed.” The meeting has “all prospects of being a very important meeting. ”.
The war in Gaza began on October 7 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,170 people, according to official Israeli statistics from AFP.
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Israel estimates that 129 hostages are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the military says 34 of them are dead.
At least 34,356 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory military operation aimed at annihilating Hamas, the autonomous region’s health ministry said.
Hamas on Saturday considered Israel’s latest counter-offer on a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a day after media reports said a mediating Egyptian delegation had arrived in Israel to jump-start stalled negotiations. It was announced that
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Saudi Arabia has never recognized Israel but was considering doing so before the October 7 attack, and talks continue toward an agreement that would also strengthen the security partnership between Riyadh and Washington. ing.
With war in Gaza and the possibility of a regional conflagration, Saudi officials say the Gulf kingdom’s ambitious social and economic reform initiative, Vision 2030, aims to ultimately lay the foundations for a post-oil future. ” are concerned that this may be hindered.
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