The US State Secretary Antony Blinken, set to meet Israeli officials on Tuesday as part of a tour of the Middle East, will ask the prime minister to announce the end of the “military phase” of the conflict in Gaza and move to “targeted raids”, Al Jazeera cites Israel’s Channel 12.

“This is a conflict that could easily metastasise, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” Blinken told reporters after talks in Qatar, a key mediator.