US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls for “urgent steps” to calm spiralling violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after high-level talks in Jerusalem
Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 35 Palestinian adults and children - including attackers, militants and civilians.
Following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Blinken urged "all sides now to take urgent steps to restore calm, to deescalate". Following what Blinken described as a "very candid" discussion with Netanyahu, the top US diplomat is due to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
The fatal shooting was preceded by the Israeli forces' deadliest operation in the occupied West Bank in years.The military later hit sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave.His government is also planning to rescind the rights to social security benefits of attackers' relatives, and steps to make it easier for Israeli citizens to obtain permits to carry firearms.
Blinken's Israel visit is part of the Biden administration's efforts to engage quickly with Netanyahu, who had tense relations with the previous Democratic president Barack Obama.
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