Israel-Gaza war live updates: Blinken meets with Palestinian Authority president in first wartime visit to West Bank ForthMGN

TEL AVIV — Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Ramallah on Sunday to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, marking the highest-level visit by a U.S. official to the West Bank since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. Blinken’s previously unannounced trip came amid discussions about the future of Gaza, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007. Blinken told a Senate hearing last month that “an effective and revitalized” Palestinian Authority would be the best-placed entity to administer Gaza and eventually be responsible for its security. But the group has long been seen as out of touch and irrelevant by many Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza.