12 October 2023; MEMO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel today to show solidarity with the occupation state, help prevent the war from spreading and push for the release of hostages, including American citizens, Reuters has reported. Blinken will also visit Jordan, while officials in the Palestinian Authority said that he will meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday.
Israel formed a new unity war government yesterday, bringing opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into his cabinet. It has called up hundreds of thousands of reservists in preparation for what could be a ground assault on Gaza. No decision to invade has yet been made “but we’re preparing for it”, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Hecht said early on Thursday.
The latest Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight were claimed by Hecht to be focused on Hamas’s “Nukhba Force”, which spearheaded last Saturday’s attacks on apartheid Israel. Palestinian gunmen are still trying to infiltrate Israel by sea and the military was still working to secure the Gaza fence, he added.
