U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Saudi Arabia’s de-facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday at the start of a Middle East tour, a U.S. official said, as Washington sought to forge a Saudi normalization deal with Israel. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians huddling under bombardment said they hoped Blinken’s visit to the region would finally deliver a truce, in time to head off a threatened new Israeli assault on the last refuge at the enclave’s edge. Blinken’s meeting with the Saudi leader lasted about two hours. Blinken did not respond to shouted questions from reporters on how it went as he returned to his hotel, but waved as he walked by. Blinken is also set to visit Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank this week and push to advance the Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated conversations with Palestinian Hamas militants on a deal to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza. His Middle East trip, his fifth since a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza, takes place during a period that senior U.S. officials describe as one of the most dangerous for the region in decades. The conflict has escalated as Iranian-backed groups have entered the fray and fired on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, while Yemen’s Houthis attacked shipping routes in the Red Sea.