Blinken arrives in Saudi Arabia on new Mideast crisis tour

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived on Monday in Riyadh at the start of a new tour aimed at pushing an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and increasing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

He will later visit Jordan and Israel on his seventh visit to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel which set off a relentless Israeli military campaign in Gaza. He will meet in the Saudi capital with visiting Gulf Arab and European foreign ministers on "day-after" plans for reconstruction of post-war Gaza, a State Department official said.