ANKARA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Egypt on Tuesday to discuss efforts aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Gaza and a prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. According to the local website Qahera News, Blinken arrived in the town of El-Alamein, northern Egypt, where he will hold meetings with top Egyptian officials. Blinken will meet separately with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, and intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Later in the day, he will travel to Qatar to meet top Qatari officials to continue talks on Gaza cease-fire efforts. This is Blinken's ninth Mideast tour since Oct. 7, which started with Israel where on Monday he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials. Source: Anadolu Agency