US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that “the time is now” to end the conflict in Gaza and urged Israel to avoid further tensions with Iran.
Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has promised to retaliate against Iran’s October 1 missile attack.
In Lebanon, state media reported an Israeli drone attack on Tyre, after the army warned residents of parts of the coastal city to flee ahead of operations targeting Hezbollah.
The warning sparked a new exodus from the once-vibrant city, which lies on the Mediterranean coast, and AFPTV footage showed plumes of thick black smoke rising from the city after the strike.
“The situation is very bad, we are evacuating people,” said Mortada Manna, head of Tyre’s disaster management unit.
“You can say the entire Tire city is being evacuated,” said Bilal Kashmir, the unit’s media officer.
Blinken’s visit to the region is his 11th since the war in Gaza began and his first since the Israel-Hezbollah violence escalated into a full-scale war late last month.
The war in Gaza began with a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes have killed 42,718 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
As he left Israel after meetings with the prime minister, Blinken said, “Since October 7 a year ago, Israel has achieved most of its strategic objectives when it comes to Gaza… Now those successes must be made permanent.” , It’s time to transform into strategic success.” Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials.
On aid to Gaza, Blinken said he saw that “progress is being made, which is good, but more progress needs to be made and, most critically, it needs to be sustained”.
Regarding Israel’s pledge to respond to Iran’s October 1 missile attack, America’s top diplomat said: “It is also very important that Israel respond in ways that do not create greater tensions.”
After Israel, Blinken will visit Saudi Arabia, which has halted talks toward a normalization agreement with Israel until a Palestinian state is created.
The US diplomat urged Israel to take what he described as an “incredible opportunity” to move towards a deal with Saudi Arabia.
Previous US efforts to end the Gaza war and prevent regional fallout have failed, as have efforts by President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to secure a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon.
The hostages are still in Gaza
In his meeting with Netanyahu on Tuesday, Blinken urged his ally to work toward a ceasefire by taking advantage of the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.
Sinwar was the architect of the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza War.
Hailing his killing, Netanyahu said it did not mean the war was over, although he also said it could be the beginning of the end.
The militants also took 251 hostages back into Gaza. Ninety-seven people are still imprisoned there, 34 of whom are reported dead by the Israeli military.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that during his meeting with the Israeli prime minister in Jerusalem, Blinken “stressed the need to take advantage” of Sinwar’s death.
He said, “This will be done by securing the release of all hostages and by ending the conflict in Gaza in a way that will provide lasting security to Israelis and Palestinians alike”.
Netanyahu told Blinken that Sinwar’s death “could have a positive impact on the return of the hostages”, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Blinken also pressed for more aid to be allowed into besieged Gaza as concerns grow for thousands of civilians trapped by fighting in the inaccessible north.
Israel launched a major air and ground offensive in northern Gaza this month, vowing to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping in the area.
Hossam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, warned that there is “no medicine or medical supplies” at the only medical facility still partially functioning in the targeted area.
“People are dying on the streets, and we can’t help them. Bodies are lying on the streets.”
hezbollah waris
After a nearly yearlong war with Hamas in Gaza, Israel shifted its focus to Lebanon in late September, vowing to secure its northern border from Hezbollah fire.
Israel stepped up its airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds across the country and dispatched ground troops late last month, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, in a war that has killed at least 1,552 people since September 23. Are.
Hezbollah continued its attacks on Israel on Wednesday, saying it had fired rockets at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of the commercial hub Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had killed a Hezbollah cleric who was to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s leader who was killed in an airstrike three weeks ago.
Hezbollah has not issued a statement confirming Hashem Saffiedine’s death, but a high-level source close to the group said the militant leader had gone out of touch since the attacks.
“We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership,” Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Harzi Halevi said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces again attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut, once a densely populated stronghold of Hezbollah, after issuing new calls for residents to evacuate the area.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
