Without… white smoke his meeting seems to be over US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken with the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu.

The head of American diplomacy cited the creation of a new Palestinian state as “key” to the prevalence of peace in the Middle East region and criticized Israel for the obstacles it poses to the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza, as well as for the intensity of the bombardment, a result of which is a very large number of civilian dead, on a daily basis.

“The accusation of genocide is baseless in International Court and distracts from peace,” Blinken initially stressed, adding: “Israel must do more to remove barriers to aid entering Gaza and must ensure smooth distribution once it is in,” noting that the U.N. says that 90% of its inhabitants Gaza faces food insecurity.

The US Secretary of State added that the daily toll on civilians in Gaza, especially children, is very high.

He also stated that a Palestinian state is the key to any peace plan and there needs to be regional cooperation to pursue this goal. “The people of Gaza must be allowed to return to their homes,” he said.

He added, however, that the US stands by Israel in its fight against it Hezbollah border with Lebanon and that they will support Israel in finding a diplomatic solution to end the conflict.