Antony Blinken struggles for support in efforts to help civilians in Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards a military transport aircraft (Jonathan Ernst/AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was wrapping up a Middle East diplomatic tour on Monday in Turkey after only limited success in his efforts to forge a regional consensus on how best to ease civilian suffering in Gaza as Israel intensifies its war against Hamas.

Mr Blinken met in the Turkish capital of Ankara with foreign minister Hakan Fidan after a frantic weekend of travel that took him from Israel to Jordan, the occupied West Bank, Cyprus and Iraq to build support for the Biden administration’s proposal for “humanitarian pauses” to Israel’s relentless military campaign in Gaza.