‘Middle East on Brink’

DOHA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could dramatically widen and threaten security in the wider region.

As Israel pounded Gaza on Sunday, local time, Mr Blinken said Israel must do more to protect civilians in Gaza and that Palestinians displaced by the war must “return home”.

“This is a moment of profound tension in the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasise, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” he told a news conference in Qatar.

“Far too many Palestinians have been killed, especially children,” he said

The top US diplomat also condemned the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief and correspondent Wael Dahdouh, and called it an “unimaginable tragedy”.

Al Jazeera earlier announced two of its Palestinian journalists – Hamza and Mustafa Thuria – were killed in an Israeli strike on their car, in what the Qatar-based media network claimed was a “targeted killing”.

Witnesses said two rockets were fired at the car; one hit the front of the vehicle and the other hit Hamza who was sitting next to the driver.

Hamza and Thuria were killed while they were “on their way to carry out their duty” for the channel in the Gaza Strip, the network said.

A third journalist travelling with them, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.

Israeli forces previously killed several members of Wael Dahdouh’s immediate family in an air raid, including his wife, daughter, son and grandson.

“I can’t begin to imagine the horror that he’s experienced – not once, but now twice,” Mr Blinken said.

“This is why we are pressing the need – the imperative – not only of making sure humanitarian assistance can get to people who need it, but that people are protected from harm from this conflict.”

Air strikes were reported on Sunday in Khan Yunis, Gaza’s main southern city, and Rafah near the Egyptian border, where many displaced people have sought refuge.

The Israeli Defence Forces – which claim to have dismantled Hamas’s military leadership in northern Gaza – reported killing more “terrorists” in central Gaza, including in a drone strike in the Bureij refugee camp.

A military statement said troops had discovered an underground “weapons production site” in the besieged Gaza Strip’s north that was ­operated by Hamas.