Washington wants at all costs to prevent Hamas "benefiting" from the reconstruction of Gaza, said Tuesday (May 25th), the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in Jerusalem, on the first day of a visit to the Middle East in the hope of consolidating the fragile truce between the Hebrew state and the ruling movement in the Palestinian enclave.
"We will work closely with our partners to ensure that Hamas does not benefit from reconstruction aid," Antony Blinken said in Jerusalem at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin. Netanyahu.
A "very powerful" response
He said Israel's response would be "very powerful" if Hamas violated the ceasefire that ended 11 days of war between the Hebrew state and the Islamist movement.
From May 10 to 21, 253 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, including 66 children and fighters, according to local authorities.
In Israel, rocket fire from Gaza killed 12 people, including a child, a teenage girl and a soldier, according to police.
Reaffirming "full support for Israel's right to defend itself", Antony Blinken also specified that he was going to announce during the day an American contribution for the reconstruction of Gaza.
He is due to meet in the afternoon in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who does not however exercise power in Gaza, before continuing his tour in Egypt and Jordan, two key players in regional stability.
A "two-state solution"
"There is a lot of work ahead of us to restore hope, respect and a certain trust between the two camps. We have seen where the other options lead and this must prompt us to redouble our efforts to preserve the peace," did he declare.
After meeting the head of Israeli diplomacy, Gabi Ashkenazi, he said he wanted to contribute to "material progress in the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians".
In the wake of the ceasefire, Washington reaffirmed its support for the "two-state solution", Israeli and Palestinian, supported by the international community but shunned by the Trump administration.
The most recent statements from the State Department and the White House, however, make no reference to the "two-state solution".
"Our priority is really above all to ensure that the ceasefire holds," said a senior American official before the departure of the Secretary of State, deeming "premature" all more ambitious aims.
Israel, which has imposed a land and sea blockade on Gaza for nearly 15 years, accuses Hamas of having diverted international aid for military purposes and has said it wants an international "mechanism" to bypass it in sending aid .
Israel announced the daily reopening, on Tuesday, of the Kerem Shalom crossing, which had hitherto been open on an ad hoc basis, for humanitarian aid.
Sick people will also be able to enter and leave Gaza for the first time since May 10, and the fishing zone off the enclave will be extended to six nautical miles (about 11 km).
Return of violence
The conflict between Hamas and Israel, the deadliest since the 2014 war, erupted on May 10 when Hamas fired bursts of rockets into Israel in solidarity with the hundreds of Palestinians injured over days of war. clashes with Israeli police on the Mosque Plaza in occupied East Jerusalem.
At the origin of the clashes, the threat of expulsion of Palestinian families for the benefit of Israeli settlers.
Traditional mediator between Palestinians and Israelis, Cairo is active to consolidate the ceasefire which includes no conditions for the cessation of hostilities and does not establish any plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, once again devastated by war .
An Egyptian delegation is in the enclave for talks with Hamas, an organization classified as "terrorist" by the United States and the European Union.
In Ramallah, President Abbas welcomed Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukry on Monday.
On Tuesday, he received Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who hailed a "positive American position" and considered that the current talks were "a crucial moment".
Despite intense diplomatic efforts, tensions persist on the ground.
A Palestinian was killed at dawn by Israeli forces near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
On Monday, a knife attack injured two people, including an Israeli soldier, in Jerusalem.
The assailant, a 17-year-old Palestinian, according to the official Palestinian agency, was shot dead by Israeli security forces.
With AFP
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR