US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived today on a visit to Cairo.

The Egyptian capital is Blinken's first stop on his Middle East tour, which also includes visits to Jerusalem and Ramallah tomorrow and the day after.

In Egypt, the Secretary of State will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri.

The talks are expected to focus on the growing tension between Israel and the Palestinians. Cairo has historically played the role of mediator between the two sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Blinken, whose visit to Egypt was planned for a long time, is in Cairo at a time when the security situation in the region has deteriorated sharply. Seven Israelis were killed and two wounded in attacks in East Jerusalem on Friday and yesterday. Also on Friday, the Israeli army bombed the Gaza Strip in response to rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave into Israeli territory. On Thursday, nine Palestinians were killed in an operation by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin.