US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia today, the first stop on a tour of the Middle East aimed at promoting a truce between Israel and Hamas and the entry of more aid into the Gaza Strip.

Blinken is set to hold talks with Arab partners on Gaza after the war and press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the concrete and tangible steps US President Joe Biden called for this month to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

In Riyadh, Blinken is expected to meet with senior Saudi leaders and hold a wider meeting with counterparts from five Arab states – Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan – to take the talks further. about what post-war governance of the Gaza Strip will look like, a senior State Department official said.

Next Anthony Blinken is set to go to Jordan and Israel.

His plans may include financing the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory or even supporting the implementation of new governance structures after the war.

Blinken’s visit is taking place on the occasion of a special two-day session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Saudi capital.

Israel is not represented at this meeting and negotiations for a truce brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt are taking place elsewhere in Cairo. But the meeting is expected to be “an opportunity for structured talks” with “key players”, WEF president Borge Brende had underlined on Saturday.

He also spoke of “a kind of new dynamic in the talks around the hostages and (…) a strong exit from the impasse we are in in Gaza.

The State Department announced that Anthony Blinken would “discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that would allow for the release of the hostages.” “It will also underline the importance of preventing a regional expansion of the war,” according to the same source.