CNN —US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel Wednesday for meetings with key government officials to press for a “humanitarian pause” as international and domestic US pressure to end the conflict in Gaza continues to mount. Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a little over an hour. He is meeting with Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi and set to meet with other key officials. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and, indeed, essential. And we will continue to work relentlessly to achieve it,” Blinken said at a news conference in Doha Tuesday.

---

Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, Benjamin Netanyahu, Herzi Halevi, “ There’s, ” Blinken, Biden, Joe Biden, ”, Netanyahu, ’, “ We’re, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prince, Israel, we’ll Organizations: CNN, Israeli, Israel Defense Forces, Hamas, Doha Tuesday, State Department, Monday, Palestinian Authority, Saudi Crown, Doha Locations: Israel, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Iranian, Iraq, Syria, United States, Rafah, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, ”, Palestinian