US Secretary of State Meets With Saudi FM in Riyadh as Hamas-Israel Conflict Escalates
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan for talks over the Israel-Gaza crisis on Saturday.
Bin Farhan condemned attacks on civilians on both sides of the conflict and stressed the urgency of de-escalating the conflict.
“Civilian populations on both sides are being affected, and it’s important. I think that we all condemn the targeting of civilians in any form at any time by anyone,” the Saudi FM said.
He also voiced the important of ending the cycle of violence.
“We need to work together to find a way out of this cycle of violence. Without a concerted effort to end this constant return to violence, it will always be civilians that suffer first, it will always be civilians on both sides that end up paying the price,” he said.
Blinken described the killing of 1300 people by Hamas fighters in a deadly cross border assault into Israel a week ago as an act that defied description.
Blinken is on a seven-country tour of the region in hopes of preventing the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants from spiraling into a bigger war and to help secure the release of Israeli and American hostages held by Hamas.
