Jerusalem, May 25

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed on Tuesday to “rally international support” to aid Gaza following a devastating war there while keeping any assistance out of the hands of its militant Hamas rulers, as he began a regional tour to shore up last week's ceasefire.

The truce that came into effect on Friday has so far held, but it did not address any of the underlying issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something Blinken acknowledged after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We know that to prevent a return to violence, we have to use the space created to address a larger set of underlying issues and challenges. And that begins with tackling the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza and starting to rebuild,” he said.

“The United States will work to rally international support around that effort.” — AP

Tenuous truce

• The truce remains since tensions are still high in Jerusalem and the fate of the Palestinian families is not yet resolved.
• The evictions were put on hold just before the Gaza fighting erupted, but the legal process is set to resume in the coming weeks. Police briefly clashed with protesters at Al-Aqsa on Friday, hours after the cease-fire came into effect.
• An Israeli soldier and a civilian were stabbed on Monday and a Palestinian man was shot on Tuesday.