Top diplomats from the United States and Europe are working to prevent the Gaza war from escalating further in the Middle East. However, despite their efforts, the conflict continues to claim more lives and pose new challenges.
On Sunday, Israeli aircraft fired on Palestinian militants who had attacked troops in the occupied West Bank. The military confirmed that an Israeli border police officer was killed and others were wounded when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device during operations in the West Bank city of Jenin. Palestinian health officials reported that six Palestinians were killed in the strike.
“The situation is dire,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is currently on a diplomatic tour of the region. “We have an intense focus on preventing this conflict from spreading.”
The West Bank has been experiencing its highest levels of unrest in decades, even before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant Hamas group that rules Gaza. Confrontations in the West Bank have risen sharply since Israeli forces launched their retaliatory offensive on Gaza, laying waste to the Palestinian enclave as they seek to wipe out Hamas.
Over the past weeks, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers and settlers, and security forces have made thousands of arrests. Blinken and the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, are on separate trips to the region to try to quell spillover from the war into Lebanon, the West Bank, and Red Sea shipping lanes.
“Our priority is to prevent the conflict from spreading,” said Borrell, who is currently on a trip to Lebanon.
