•As 57 Muslim nations meet Wednesday

•Death toll surpasses 3,668

By Henry Ojelu, with agency report

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, yesterday, sought pressure against Hamas in talks with the leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both eager to highlight their influence, despite at times uneasy alliances with Washington.

This is coming as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, weekend, ordered all 57 Muslim countries to an urgent meeting on Wednesday, as death toll in Israel-Palestinian war surpassed 3,668.

Since Hamas militants’ bloody October 7 assault on Israel, which has launched relentless air strikes on Gaza in retaliation, Blinken has toured seven Middle Eastern countries in support of Israel, where he will return today.

In Riyadh, Blinken was invited for a dawn closed-door meeting with oil-wealthy Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, 38-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is known to keep nocturnal hours even for high-level guests.

Blinken then flew to Cairo, where he said he had “a very good conversation” with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose administration has repeatedly brokered truces between Hamas and Israel.

Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, in 1979, and has been one of the top recipients of US assistance since.“Since the violence broke out, Saudi Arabia has put on hold US-brokered talks on normalising with Israel.

“Very productive,” Blinken said when asked about the meeting with the Saudi prince, known by his initials MBS.“Blinken “highlighted the United States’ unwavering focus on halting terrorist attacks by Hamas, securing the release of all hostages and preventing the conflict from spreading”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.“Prince Mohammed in turn spoke of Saudi outreach “to calm the situation”, the official Saudi Press Agency said — an effort that has involved a call an effort that has involved a call to President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, whose Shiite clerical leadership openly supports Hamas and is a regional rival to Sunni Saudi Arabia.“The crown prince also reiterated the Gulf kingdom’s condemnation of attacks on civilians while stressing the need for Palestinians to “obtain their legitimate rights and achieve just and lasting peace”.“In his meeting with Blinken Sunday, Sisi said “Israel’s response has gone beyond the right to self defence an amounts to collective punishment”, as the United Nations warned of worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza.“As he departed Cairo, Blinken said he was confident “Rafah will be open” and that the US, the UN, Egypt, Israel and others were working on a “mechanism by which to get the assistance and to get it to people who need it”.“There was no word on the US’s calls on Egypt to take in refugees, which Sisi has rejected, citing fears that mass displacement would mean the “eradication of the Palestinian cause” and insisting Gazans “remain on their land”.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ordered all 57 Muslim countries to an urgent meeting on Wednesday as death tolls in Israel-Palestinian war surpassed 3,668.

A statement from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Haramain Sharifain on Sunday afternoon, showed that the urgent extraordinary session of the Organisation Islamic Cooperation is to be held in Jeddah on October 18 and 19.

Titled; “By order of The King,” the terse statement reads in part.

“An urgent extraordinary session of the Organisation Islamic Cooperation to be held in Jeddah on 18 and 19 October to discuss and deliberate the escalation between Gaza and the Occupational Forces in Palestine. All 57 Muslim Countries are to attend.”