In the Gaza Strip, where hunger is spreading and hopes were dashed for a ceasefire in time for Ramadan last week, residents of Gaza City in the north described the most intense fighting for months around the Al Shifa hospital. After arriving in Saudi Arabia, Blinken met the Saudi foreign minister and was expected to hold talks with ruling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

He will go on to Egypt, where he is expected on Thursday to meet the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, and the secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.

Fighting has intensified in recent days in northern parts of Gaza captured by Israeli forces early in the nearly six-month-old conflict, including Al Shifa, once Gaza's biggest hospital, now one of the few even partially functioning in the north.