Blinken to Mideast

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel on Friday, where he will meet with the Israeli government over the conflict with Hamas, the US State Department has announced. “Secretary Blinken will travel to Israel on Friday to meet with members of the Israeli government, and then he will stop elsewhere in the region,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement. Miller did not specify where Blinken will visit during his trip to the Middle East. Earlier this month, he visited Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. /ritzau/Reuters/