WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken plans to visit Britain on Monday, the State Department said, a week after Britain suspended some arms export licenses with Israel over equipment that could be used in the war in Gaza.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Saturday that Blinken will open the US-UK Strategic Dialogue during a visit scheduled for Tuesday, “reaffirming our special relationship.”
Blinken will also meet with senior government officials to discuss issues including the Indo-Pacific, the AUKUS defense pact between the US, Australia, Britain and the Middle East, and collective efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
On September 2, Britain announced the immediate suspension of 30 of its 350 arms export licenses with Israel, saying such equipment risks serious violations of international humanitarian law in Israel’s war with Hamas in the densely populated Palestinian enclave of Palestine. Gaza.
The administration of President Joe Biden and his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, is under pressure from critics of the war to cut off some arms shipments to Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the Middle East. A U.S. official said in July that the Biden administration would continue sending 500-pound bombs to Israel, but would continue to freeze supplies of 2,000-pound bombs because of concerns about their use in Gaza.
Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, the US chief negotiator for ending the war in Gaza, said in London on Saturday that a more detailed ceasefire proposal will be made in the coming days.
