US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, arrived on Friday evening in Istanbul, his first stop on a tour of the Middle East centered on the war in Gaza.

In addition to Turkey and Greece, Blinken will visit five Arab countries, as well as “Israel” and the West Bank, as part of this fourth tour in the region since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Blinken would discuss issues including “immediate measures to significantly increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

Miller said he would also discuss “preventing the spread of the conflict,” days after Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon and while Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen target ships in the Red Sea.