Antony Blinken Meets Palestinian Leaders After Reiterating “Ironclad” U.S. Support for Israel

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders in the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Blinken’s visit comes just days after the Palestinian Authority ended its security coordination with Israel, following a spate of killings by Israeli forces. In the latest violence, Israeli forces shot 26-year-old Palestinian Naseem Abu Fouda in the head Monday morning at a checkpoint in the occupied southern city of Hebron. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that so far this year Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed 35 Palestinians, including eight children and an elderly woman.