Blinken calls Abbas to offer condolences for Gaza hospital deaths

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to offer condolences over a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital and voice support for Palestinians' "legitimate aspirations," the State Department said Wednesday.

Blinken, who was in Amman on a regional tour, spoke late Tuesday by telephone with Abbas "to express profound condolences for the civilian lives lost in the explosion" at the Ahli Arab Hospital, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.