At the conclusion of his visit to Tel Aviv, on Thursday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken renewed his country's "commitment" to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Blinken said in a post on the X platform, that during his seventh trip to Israel since October 7, 2023, he met with officials “in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to discuss the latest developments, my trips and meetings this week with regional leaders, and the urgency of the work that awaits us.”

He added: "Many lives have been lost, the hostages (Israelis in Gaza) are still being held far from their loved ones, and civilians (in Gaza) are still suffering as a result of this conflict," as he put it.

Blinken stressed, "We must continue to work on finding solutions while keeping these challenges in mind."

He claimed that "the United States is committed to achieving lasting peace and security in the region," and stated that this would be through "an Israel integrated (in reference to normalization with Arab countries) in the region and an independent Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel with security arrangements for both peoples." 

During his tour, Blinken visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian territories, and Israel, as part of discussing the prisoner exchange deal and the ceasefire in Gaza.

On Tuesday, Hamas announced that it had delivered its response to Egypt and Qatar regarding the “framework agreement” for the prisoner exchange and ceasefire proposal, and the Israeli mini-ministerial council is scheduled to discuss Hamas’ response.

Tel Aviv estimates that there are about 136 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, while it holds no less than 8,800 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official sources from both parties, but there is no confirmation of the final number by both parties.