The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Nov 03 landed in Israel’s Tel Aviv. Reuters reports that the US’ top diplomat has visited Israel to push for humanitarian pauses in the Gaza war. Israel has said that the Defense Forces have surrounded Gaza and the focus of its drive is to annihilate Hamas. Notably, this is Antony Blinken’s second visit to war-hit Israel in a month. This time, he will discuss steps with PM Netanyahu to minimise harm to civilians in besieged Gaza. As per Reuters, Gaza health authorities say at least 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault. On the other hand, Israel says Hamas killed 1,400 people and took more than 240 hostages in the attacks on Oct 7.