Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv for ceasefire talks on Tuesday, in the last attempt before the U.S Presidential Elections. This is also the first big U.S. push for a Middle East ceasefire since Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week.
Blinken began his meetings in Israel as Hezbollah launched rockets into Tel Aviv and Haifa and Israeli air strikes pummelling parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs. The strikes caused a multi-storey building to entirely collapse and sent a fresh wave of panicked residents fleeing.
Repeated diplomatic efforts have failed to bring an end to both the year-long war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza and to its spillover conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
Daunting Mission
Blinken, on his 11th trip to the region since the Gaza war erupted, faces a daunting mission.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday there would be no negotiations while fighting continues. It also claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Netanyahu’s holiday home on Saturday.
Washington hopes the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will provide a new opportunity for peace. Sinwar was Israel’s most wanted man. He was blamed for triggering the year of warfare by planning the deadly October 7 attack on Israel last year.
No Conflict Resolution
Israel has so far shown no sign of relenting in its military campaigns even after assassinating several leaders of Iran’s allies Hamas and Hezbollah, including Hassan Nasrallah.
In Gaza on Tuesday, the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA called for a temporary truce to allow civilians to leave areas in the north of the enclave where Israeli forces were hunting down Hamas militants.
Gaza health officials said more than 20 people had been killed by Israeli forces. Dozens of corpses lay on roadsides and under rubble, they said.
“Hospitals ran out of coffins to prepare the dead,” said Munir Al-Bursh, director of the Gaza health ministry.
Sirens In Tel Aviv
Blinken was meeting Netanyahu and other officials at the start of a week-long trip that will also take him to Jordan and Qatar. U.S. officials say he is exploring plans for rebuilding and governing Gaza after the war, key to reaching a ceasefire.
Iran and its allies – Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, armed groups in Iraq and Hamas in Gaza – have said that their “Axis of Resistance” against Israeli and U.S. interests will emerge victorious.
The Houthis said on Tuesday they had targeted an Israeli military base in Tel Aviv using ballistic missiles in solidarity with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Hours before Blinken landed, air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and other areas of central Israel after Hezbollah fired missiles at what it said were Israeli military targets near Haifa and Tel Aviv. The missiles were an apparent demonstration that Hezbollah’s capabilities have survived Israel’s biggest onslaught in decades of hostilities.
Lebanon Conflict
The conflict has spread to Lebanon over the past month, with Israel launching a ground campaign and intensified air assaults against Hezbollah, which had been firing across the frontier for a year in solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel’s offensive has driven 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes.
During a night of heavy strikes on south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, Israel struck the area near Beirut’s Rafik Hariri hospital, Lebanon’s main state medical facility. Lebanese authorities said 13 people were killed.
The Israeli military said the hospital itself had not been targeted and was not affected. Director Jihad Saadeh said the hospital was damaged because of an Israeli attack near it.
Israeli Retaliation Against Iran
State Department officials said Blinken intended to raise the issue of what happens in Gaza when the war ends, focusing on security, governance and reconstruction. Washington has long said it ideally wants Gaza reunited with the West Bank under a government run by the Palestinian Authority, which now exercises limited self-rule in that Israeli-occupied territory.
Blinken will also discuss Israel’s anticipated retaliation for a ballistic missile attack launched by Iran on Oct. 1, a senior State Department official said. The US and its allies are worried that Israel’s response could disrupt oil markets and ignite a full-blown war between the arch-enemies.
The Gaza war began after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7 last year, killing around 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent air and ground war in Gaza has killed 42,718 Palestinians, the enclave’s health authorities say.
(with inputs from Reuters)
