RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has received US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Saudi Press Agency said early Thursday.

The meeting discussed “Developments in the Gaza Strip, and efforts made to stop military operations and deal with their security and humanitarian repercussions, the SPA added.

The pair “reviewed bilateral relations and areas of joint cooperation, in addition to the latest regional and International developments.”

Earlier, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Blinken discussed the “importance of an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.

Blinken landed in Jeddah earlier on Wednesday on the first leg of a regional tour that was extended to include Israel.

On Thursday, he is due to travel on to Egypt, which neighbours Gaza and whose envoys have been involved in previous mediation efforts.

The visit comes amid strained ties between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Washington has supported Israel with billions of dollars in military aid since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, but has become increasingly frustrated by its ally’s failure to curb civilian deaths or allow the delivery of vital aid.

Another major area of concern for the US has been the fate of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip. Biden has put pressure on Netanyahu to pull back from a full-scale ground offensive on the tiny area, where up to 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering after being driven from their homes elsewhere.

As the secretary of state arrived in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s main aid agency KSrelief donated $40 million to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which has faced massive funding cuts and calls for its abolition spearheaded by Israel.

The new funds would “provide food for more than 250,000 people and tents for 20,000 families,” KSrelief said.

In Gaza, Israeli forces continued their rampage with tanks and troops through Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the fourth such attack since the war began. The Israeli military claimed to have killed 90 Hamas fighters and arrested 160.