As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken begins his fourth crisis tour since the start of the Israel-Hamas war three months ago, the leader of the Hamas terror group Ismail Haniyeh says Washington should focus on the ‘mistakes’ made by “blindly supporting” Israel.
“We hope that Mr. Blinken learned lessons from the past three months and realized the extent of the mistakes the US has made by blindly supporting the Zionist occupation and believing its lies, which resulted in unprecedented massacres and war crimes against our people in Gaza,” he says in a speech.
Blinken arrived in Istanbul late Friday for the first leg of a trip that includes visits to Israel and West Bank, along with five Arab states.
His tour comes with fears mounting that the conflict — sparked when some 3,000 Hamas terrorists stormed the Gaza border with Israel and killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped approximately 240 more — will engulf swathes of the Middle East.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Istanbul, on January 5, 2024 (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP)
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From the Liveblog of
Saturday, January 6, 2024
