Blinken has two urgent objectives in Israel – aid for Gaza and to stop the spread of this terrible war

Editorial: Too many civilians – including children – are being killed in Gaza, and too few Hamas commanders captured. That needs to be reversed

US secretary of state Antony Blinken embarks on his eighth visit to Israel (AP)

With at least 20,000 dead in Gaza, and much of the territory reduced to ruins while the rest is under siege and constant bombardment, it seems an odd moment to be talking about post-war reconstruction and a new political settlement for the strip and the wider region.

Yet recent experience of wars suggests that it is, in fact, never too soon to organise post-war planning, and to create a political framework for winning the peace, in the interests of all who inhabit the Middle East.

Certainly this will be on the agenda of the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, as he embarks on his eighth visit to Israel and its neighbours since the horrific terrorism on 7 October provoked the current war.