Blinken says Arab countries won't rebuild Gaza if Israel levels it again

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Arab countries do not want to get into the "business of rebuilding Gaza" if the Israel-besieged enclave is "levelled again" in a year, stressing the importance of resolving the Palestinian question once and for all.

Blinken's remarks on Tuesday came after more than 100 days of Israel's brutal war on Gaza during which US continuously supported Israel, giving lethal weapons to Tel Aviv's already heavily-armed military, vetoing UN resolutions calling for ceasefire in the enclave and ignoring large-scale domestic and global protests against Israeli carnage in Gaza.

"Arab countries are saying this — they're saying: look, we're not going to get into the business — for example — of rebuilding Gaza only to have it levelled again — in a year or five years, and then be asked to rebuild it again," Blinken said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"We've got to also get to the fundamentals. And in terms of Israel's own security, the Arab piece of the equation, and the Palestinian piece, that's the way to true, lasting security," he added.

"You're in a place right now where, again, Arab countries, including countries like Saudi Arabia, are prepared to do things in their relationship with Israel they were never prepared to do before," Blinken said.

"That opens up an entirely different future, a much more secure future. But you have to resolve the Palestinian question."

Blinken said that, unlike any time in the past, Israel's Arab and Muslim neighbours are prepared to integrate Israel into the region, but "they’re equally committed to a pathway to a Palestinian state."

Palestinian state

Speaking also in Davos, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said the kingdom could recognise Israel if a comprehensive agreement were reached that included statehood for the Palestinians.

Blinken, in his latest trip to the Middle East just a week ago, had brought a rough agreement to Israel that its predominately Muslim neighbours would help rehabilitate Gaza after the war and continue economic integration with Israel, but only if it committed to eventually allowing the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

US-brokered talks on a Palestinian state in the territory now occupied by Israel collapsed almost a decade ago.

Far-right leaders in Israel's current ruling coalition oppose Palestinian statehood.

Israel has killed at least 24,285 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded 61,154 others in its brutal war on besieged Gaza.

According to the UN, 85 percent of the population of besieged Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.

Meanwhile, Gaza's humanitarian crisis is worsening, with UN agencies warning of mass starvation and disease. The war threatens to widen after the US and Israel traded strikes with Iranian-allied groups across the region.