Antony Blinken the US secretary of state made a surprise visit to the occupied West Bank on Sunday, meeting with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas. Blinken arrived in Ramallah under tight security one day after meeting in Jordan with Arab foreign ministers angered by mounting civilian deaths in Gaza, where the health ministry said dozens were killed in a strike on a refugee camp. Washington has rebuffed calls for a ceasefire, instead backing Israel´s goal of crushing Hamas . Israel has relentlessly bombarded the besieged Gaza Strip in response, levelling entire city blocks and killing over 9,480 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Blinken last week told a Senate hearing the Palestinian Authority should retake control of Gaza, even though it currently exercises only limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long sought to sideline it. The Israel-Hamas war has exacerbated tensions in the West Bank, where more than 150 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces and in settler attacks, including three young men killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Blinken visits West Bank as fierce fighting roils Gaza
