U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit Saudi Arabia this week for talks that could be the "last chance" for a truce in Gaza before Israel's looming invasion of the southern city of Rafah.
Blinken will hold meetings Monday and Tuesday to "discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of hostages and how it is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement Saturday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also said Saturday that a breakthrough involving the 133 hostages believed to be held by Hamas could forestall a ground offensive against Rafah.
"If there is a deal, we will suspend the operation," Katz told Israel's Channel 12, the Jerusalem Post reported.
On Friday, Israel told Egypt it was willing to give Hamas "one last chance" at negotiations over the hostages before moving against Rafah, Axios reported, citing two senior Israeli officials.
Israel has been threatening for weeks to invade Rafah, where more than a million Gaza residents have fled from the combat that has already reportedly killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
More than 13,000 of the dead were militants killed in battle, according to Israel, which has pledged to destroy Hamas over its surprise Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 peple in Israel.
