Saudi Arabia willing to normalise relations with Israel: Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that he has received strong indications that Saudi Arabia is willing to normalise relations with Israel, particularly now that a ceasefire deal has been signed by Israel and Hamas.

"You all know we were all planning to go to Saudi Arabia and Israel because we'd made so much progress on the normalisation, on October 10 [2023], which, of course, didn't happen, to do two things: to try to help finalise agreements that were necessary to get to normalisation, and as part of that, to find a clear way forward, a pathway to a Palestinian state, vital to Saudi Arabia, very important to us as well, even with everything that's happened since October 7," Blinken told reporters at his final press conference.

"I believe strongly, including from my many conversations with leaders in the region, whether it's in Israel and Saudi Arabia or beyond that, the desire to pursue integration, the desire to bring countries together, remains strong, remains powerful, and can be a driving force for finally resolving some of these other questions, including the Palestinian question," he said.