WASHINGTON, Jan 5, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will leave Thursday on a trip to five Arab countries, the West Bank, Turkey and Greece, in addition to a previously announced stop in Israel, the State Department said.

Blinken among other issues will "discuss immediate measures to increase substantially humanitarian assistance to Gaza," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

He will also discuss "preventing the conflict from expanding," Miller said, days after an Israeli strike killed a Hamas militant in Lebanon and as Iranian-backed Huthi rebels fire on ships in the Red Sea.

"He will discuss specific steps parties can take, including how they can use their influence with others in the region, to avoid escalation," Miller said.

"It is in no one's interest -- not Israel's, not the region's, not the world's -- for this conflict to spread beyond Gaza," he said.

Blinken will be paying his fourth visit to the region since a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered a massive Israeli retaliatory campaign in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

On the latest visit, Blinken will visit Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Miller said.