[Video transcript]
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a mad scramble to prevent the spread of the Israel-Hamas war.
After positive meetings in Qatar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Sunday the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could "metastasize" and threaten security in the wider Middle East.
In Doha, Secretary Blinken laid out his diplomatic push, while praising his hosts.
(Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State)
''In all of my meetings over the last two days, we discussed ongoing efforts to better protect civilians in Gaza and how to get more humanitarian assistance to them. And to get the remaining hostages out, and home with their loved ones. Qatar was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the simultaneous release of more than 100 hostages, including American citizens, and a pause in the fighting that during that time, enabled us to double the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.''
For these displaced Palestinians, caught in the crossfire of this conflict in Gaza, help can't come soon enough.
And the US Secretary of State made his position on their status clear.
(Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State)
''Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza."
But, at the funeral of two Palestinian journalists killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in the south of the Gaza strip, the prospect of peace seems far away.
Blinken said the killings were an "unimaginable tragedy" and that he was "deeply sorry" for the family's loss.
The US's top diplomat's Middle East tour continues on Monday, with visits that include Israel and the occupied West Bank.