'US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is once again in the Middle East'
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00:00 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is once again in the Middle East, his sixth trip
00:04 in as many months as he tries to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
00:10 In exchange for that ceasefire, there would be a release of hostages and more aid getting
00:15 into the Gaza Strip.
00:16 But it is a double-forked operation for Antony Blinken as he looks to dissuade the Israeli
00:22 government from going ahead with a planned offensive into the southern Gazan town of
00:26 Rafa.
00:27 More than 1.5 million people are currently taking refuge there and the American government
00:31 has pushed back on any plan that doesn't involve another plan to save the lives of those 1.5
00:37 million and get them out of harm's way.
00:40 Now the Israeli government has pushed back on this.
00:42 Netanyahu spoke to lawmakers on Tuesday and said that he made it very clear to Joe Biden
00:47 in a call that he had on Monday that this operation would be going ahead.
00:52 But in that call, Joe Biden also managed to get Netanyahu to agree to send a delegation
00:57 over to Washington to hear Washington's concerns.
00:59 We're told that delegation will include high-ranking military officials and humanitarian officials
01:04 as well.
01:05 That delegation likely to get here at the beginning of next week.
01:09 The U.S. delegation so far, we don't know the makeup of, but we can expect people like
01:13 Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to be there, maybe John Kirby as well, the
01:17 communications adviser for national security, and maybe even Blinken himself if he makes
01:23 it back from this trip in the Middle East in time.
01:26 It has been a fraught issue for Joe Biden and something that has heavily affected his
01:30 presidency and something he will be looking at as he goes into November's election.
01:35 His handling of the situation in the Middle East weighing heavy on voters' minds and also
01:40 starting to anger some lawmakers.
01:42 We saw a letter from 19 Democratic senators who urged Joe Biden to do more to push for
01:48 a Palestinian state, something that Netanyahu has pushed back on.