Blinken meets Palestinian leader as Israel keeps bombing Gaza

The Israeli military said it killed dozens of "terrorists" and hit another150 targets in Hamas-run Gaza, where the health ministry said 147 people hadbeen killed over the previous 24 hours.
The bloodiest ever Gaza war has raged since the unprecedented Hamas attacksagainst Israel on October 7 and killed more than 23,000 people in the besiegedPalestinian territory, according to its health ministry.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas spoke with Blinken of the need "to stopthe Israeli aggression against Palestinian people" in Gaza and the occupiedWest Bank, which has also been torn by deadly unrest, said the officialPalestinian news agency Wafa.
Blinken told Abbas that Washington supports "tangible steps" towards thecreation of a Palestinian state -- a long-term goal which Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government has opposed.
The secretary of state reiterated the US position that a Palestinian statemust stand alongside Israel, "with both living in peace and security", saidState Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
As Blinken arrived under tight security at Abbas's headquarters inRamallah, protesters held up signs reading "Stop the genocide", "FreePalestine" and "Blinken out". Some scuffled with Palestinian security forces inriot gear.
In Bahrain, Blinken said Abbas was "committed" to reforming the PalestinianAuthority to provide "effective" governance for his people.
Blinken was in the Gulf state for talks with King Hamad on preventing aregional escalation of the war, according to the State Department.
Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in the Jordaniancity of Aqaba to discuss with King Abdullah II a "push for an immediateceasefire" in Gaza, Jordan's royal palace said.
Washington sees a future in Gaza for the PA, whose ruling Fatah faction isa rival of Hamas. But Netanyahu has long sought to weaken the semi-autonomousbody.
- Red Sea clashes spike -
Since the Gaza war started, fears have grown of a widening conflict betweenIsrael and Iran-backed armed groups, especially Lebanon's Hezbollah but alsogroups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Yemen's Huthi rebels have carried out numerous attacks on merchant ships inthe Red Sea, a vital artery for international trade.
The United States has set up a multinational naval task force to protectshipping from the attacks, which Blinken on Wednesday said were "aided andabetted" by Iran.
On Tuesday, the rebels "launched a complex" attack, US Central Commandsaid, adding that US and British forces had shot down 18 drones and threemissiles, with no casualties or damage reported.
The Huthis later said they had fired a "large number" of missiles anddrones at a US ship, with an adviser telling AFP it was the largest such attacksince their campaign started.
British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps warned the Huthis of "consequences"if they continued their "illegal attacks".
- 'Sacrificed our children' -
The war started when Hamas launched its unprecedented October 7 attack,which resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according toan AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also took around 250 hostages, of whom Israel says 132 remain inGaza including at least 25 believed to have been killed.
Israel has responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed atleast 23,357 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza healthministry.
The Israeli army says 186 of its soldiers have been killed inside Gaza inits campaign to destroy Hamas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an Israeli strike on an ambulancein central Gaza killed four medics and two other passengers on Wednesday, asthe territory's health system collapses during Israel's siege and bombardment.
Israel's military did not immediately comment on the incident whencontacted by AFP.
The United Nations estimates 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced insidethe territory that had already endured years of blockade and poverty before thewar triggered an acute humanitarian crisis.
Blinken -- while voicing continued US support for top regional ally Israel-- has urged steps to reduce the suffering.
Dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine mean the "daily toll oncivilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high", Blinken saidTuesday.
The World Health Organization called the humanitarian situation in Gaza"indescribable" on Wednesday and pleaded Israel to allow more aid deliveries.
Desperate Gazans on Tuesday climbed onto one truck carrying flour andcanned goods and tossed the food to the crowd below, AFP footage showed.
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari has said Israel was "ready and willing tofacilitate as much humanitarian aid as the world will give".
One of the many displaced Palestinians, Hassan Kaskin, 55, said: "We havelost our money, our houses, our jobs. We are losing our youths as well."We've sacrificed our children for our homeland."
- US crisis diplomacy -
Blinken is on his fourth tour of the Middle East since the outbreak of thewar, and was due to head to Egypt, after earlier stops in Turkey, Saudi Arabiaand the United Arab Emirates.
Washington has floated a post-war scenario in which a reformed PalestinianAuthority governs Gaza as well as towns and cities in the West Bank.
A post-war plan outlined by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant envisions local"civil committees" governing Gaza after Israel has dismantled Hamas.
Hamas, an Islamist movement, seized sole control of the Gaza Strip in 2007,ousting Abbas's Fatah party, with which it had shared power after sweepingparliamentary elections, reports BSS.
The United States and European Union have blacklisted Hamas as a"terrorist" organisation.
Hamas's Qatar-based chief Ismail Haniyeh said last week he was "open to theidea" of a single Palestinian administration in Gaza and the West Bank.