US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left for the Middle East on Monday in a fresh effort to broker an elusive Gaza ceasefire two weeks before US elections, given a fresh opportunity by Israel’s killing of a Hamas leader.
It will be the top US diplomat’s 11th visit to the Middle East since the war broke out a year ago, with Blinken warning on his last visit to Israel in August that it could be the “last chance” for a US-led ceasefire plan. ,
That effort did not succeed, and the conflict has since escalated and expanded, with Israel attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and threatening new attacks directly on Iran, whose clerical leader supports both Hamas and Hezbollah. We do.
US President Joe Biden, who personally drafted the May 31 ceasefire plan that would also see hostages freed from Gaza, has seen new hope after Israel killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar last week.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to Germany, Biden said he called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him and tell him that Blinken would be visiting the region.
“I told them we’re really pleased with their actions and going forward, now is the time to move forward – move forward, move toward a ceasefire,” Biden said Thursday.
The Gaza war erupted last year following an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza has killed 42,603 people, mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers reliable.
Last month, Israel expanded its military campaign to Lebanon, where at least 1,470 people have since died, according to an AFP tabulation of Lebanese health ministry figures.
Blinken’s visit comes days after he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Israel that the United States could withhold some of the billions of dollars in military aid unless it allows more humanitarian aid into Gaza. , where the United Nations has warned that more than 1.8 million people are facing extreme hunger. ,
– Implications of the US election –
A breakthrough could be a big boost for US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running in a tight November 5 race for the White House against Donald Trump.
The war has been a political crisis for Biden and, to a lesser extent, his political successor Harris, with Netanyahu repeatedly rejecting US pleas to do more to protect civilians.
Trump also spoke to Netanyahu about Sinwar’s killing, with the Republican saying the Israeli leader was vindicated in ignoring pressure from Biden to scale back military operations.
Trump suggested he would give Netanyahu free rein, telling reporters that Biden was “trying to hold him back and he should probably do the opposite.”
Trump strongly supported Israel in his first term. He has a complicated relationship with Netanyahu but Republican voters, unlike Democrats, are overwhelmingly supportive of Israel and Netanyahu.
– Seeing the way forward –
Blinken will first fly to Israel and then visit other countries in the Middle East until Friday.
An official who was on the plane with him said Blinken would visit Jordan on Wednesday and discuss humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.
The State Department did not list his other stops, but on previous trips Blinken has visited several Arab countries, notably Qatar and Egypt, which are key mediators in the ceasefire talks.
Blinken will discuss “the importance of ending the war in Gaza, securing the release of all hostages, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people,” a State Department statement said.
It said Blinken would also discuss post-war arrangements critical to a peace agreement and seek a “diplomatic solution” in Lebanon, where the United States has stopped short of urging an immediate ceasefire.
Blinken has also tried to persuade Netanyahu to make a deal by jeopardizing the prospect of normalization with Saudi Arabia — which would be a historic game-changer in Israel’s quest for acceptance, as the kingdom is the custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites. Is.
Netanyahu, who leads the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history, has called Sinwar’s death “the beginning of the end” of the Gaza war, but he faces calls from his base to continue the military campaign in Gaza, which It has already been turned into debris to a large extent. ,
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)