Secretary Blinken continues shuttle diplomacy on Gaza mission

By Nathan Morley

Around the same time Mr. Blinken touched-down, dozens of people were reported killed in Gaza. The Hamas-controlled health ministry reports 126 people have been killed there in last day.

After meeting Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Mr. Blinken's team said he emphasized the need to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians.

Blinken is on his fourth trip to the region since the conflict broke out in early October last year, leading to increasing tensions across the Middle East.

On the ground in Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces confirmed that at least nine Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday, including six who were killed as an IDF truck in Khan Yunis, drove over a roadside bomb.

Earlier, Hezbollah launched deadly drones toward northern Israel, saying the attack was in response to earlier Israeli assassinations in Lebanon.

In other regional developments, 14 soldiers were killed and 20 others seriously wounded on Tuesday when a military bus came under Islamic State attack in Syria's Homs Province.

The incident occurred near the T-3 oil station in countryside near Homs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Last week, two other Syrian troops were killed in an ambush carried out by the so-called Islamic State in the same region.