U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday thanked Qatar for its "central role" in efforts aimed at reaching a cease-fire in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Blinken's statement was made during his meeting with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in the Saudi capital Riyadh, according to the official Qatar News Agency (QNA).
In addition to discussing their strategic bilateral relations, the top diplomats "also covered the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly regional and international efforts aimed at an immediate cease-fire, the release of prisoners and hostages, and the sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance to all areas of the Gaza Strip."
Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar's prime minister, voiced his country's "deep concern about developments in the region, calling on all parties to de-escalate and exercise maximum restraint," QNA added.
Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday on the first leg of a regional tour that will also take him to Israel and Jordan.
He held bilateral and multilateral meetings in the kingdom with his Arab counterparts, as well as with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, with developments in Gaza as their main topic.
Indirect talks between Israel and the Hamas group are taking place in both Cairo and Doha aimed at reaching a deal that includes a prisoner swap under which Israeli captives are released in exchange for Palestinians' release from Israeli jails.
Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7 which killed some 1,200 people.
Nearly 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 77,600 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
