Blinken Tells Abbas He Asked Israel to Use 'Smaller Bombs' on Gaza | 5 Nov 2023 | U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on another multi-day tour of the Middle East, where this time Arab leaders have finally acquiesced to meet with him as the Gaza crisis continues, at a moment the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say that Gaza City is surrounded. On Sunday, Blinken visited Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the internationally backed Palestinian Authority (PA). Blinken reportedly told Abbas that the U.S. is pressing Israel to "minimize civilian harm." Blinken had previously again met with Netanyahu Friday where according to fresh reports he pressed the Israeli prime minister to use "smaller bombs." "U.S. officials told the Israelis that they could reduce civilian casualties if they improved how they targeted Hamas leaders, gathered more intelligence on Hamas command and control networks before launching strikes, used smaller bombs to collapse the tunnel network and employed their ground forces to separate civilian population centers from where the militants are concentrated," The New York Times reported.