On his 11th trip to the region since the start of the conflict, the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, arrived in Israel this Tuesday in an attempt to revive the fading hope for a possible ceasefire in Gaza while the Israeli attacks in Lebanon continue and the offensive in the Strip intensifies. Blinken has arrived in the region less than a week after Israel eliminated Hamas leader Yahia Sinwar in the Palestinian enclave.
The head of American diplomacy has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a meeting in Jerusalem, to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the death of the fundamentalist leader to promote a truce and favor the release of hostages, according to the words of the Department spokesperson. of State, Matthew Miller.
Blinken has also referred to the need for Israel to take new steps to quell the humanitarian crisis in the enclave and prepare a plan for the future of Gaza and the Palestinians once the war is over. Likewise, both leaders addressed a possible diplomatic solution to the war in Lebanon, a country that continues to be hit daily with bombings from the air and that has already been invaded by Israeli ground troops.
The statement about the meeting issued by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office makes no reference to the humanitarian crisis in the Strip; It does mention the offensive in the enclave (where more than 42,700 deaths and more than 100,000 wounded have already been recorded) and the post-war scenario, the war in Lebanon, the pending liberation of hostages held by Hamas and the response that is being prepared with Washington’s knowledge after Iran’s missile attack on October 1. Israel has thanked the United States for expressing “deep shock” over the drone attack launched last week by Hezbollah against a private residence of Netanyahu and which was classified as attempted murder. This Tuesday, the authorities recognized that one of the devices directly hit the president’s chalet, located in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, according to local media.
The optimism generated, even in the White House, about the opportunity to seek a truce after the elimination by Israeli soldiers of Yahia Sinwarhas not yet gone beyond the plane of desires. On the ground, the order Netanyahu is to maintain military pressure in Gaza at the highest level. In the last few hours, the Israeli army has issued a new order for the forced evacuation of residents of the town of Beit Lahia, in the north. There are also images of groups of Gazans pushed towards the south by the occupation troops of an area, the northern one, in which the United Nations continues to denounce the lack the most basic things for survival —water, food and medical care— due to the blockade imposed by Israel.
In his travels to the region since the war began on October 7, 2023, Blinken has attempted to dislodge the warring parties from their positions. So far, there has only been one week of ceasefire, at the end of last November, when an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners took place. The disappearance of Sinwar It does not facilitate efforts to establish a truce that would make it possible to release the captives, said Jalil Khaya, Hamas political official. In fact, one of the unknowns is who is going to take the reins of the negotiations for the movement, which has not yet named Sinwar’s successor.
The situation in the Strip, meanwhile, continues to worsen. “The smell of death is everywhere, bodies lie strewn in the streets or under rubble, and missions to remove the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied,” the head of the UN agency for humanitarian aid denounces in a statement. Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, through his X account (formerly Twitter). “In northern Gaza, people are simply waiting to die,” he adds while calling for a truce “even if it is just a few hours.”
The health authorities of the Hamas Government have reported at least 115 deaths in the last two days and affirm, in a statement, that the Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the three main hospitals in the north, is in “more than catastrophic” situation. One of its entrances, they add, has been attacked with bombs from Israeli drones that have failed to explode while shots are fired at the upper floors. The Red Cross, from Gaza City, also warns of the situation for the civilian population and the risk that working in the area poses for its teams.
The more than 12 months of war have plummeted development rates in the Strip to 1950 levels and the gross domestic product has fallen by 35%, according to a study by the UN Development Agency (UNDP). English), reports the Reuters agency. Poverty is now around 100% and unemployment is 80%; economic recovery will not come for at least a decade.
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Shortly before Blinken’s arrival in Israel, who will now also visit Jordan, Egypt and Qatar, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a military facility in Tel Aviv and a naval base in Haifa — the first and third city in Israel. respectively—which has not caused damage or fatalities, but has put the country on alert.
On that northern front, the Israeli air force has continued to hit different Hezbollah targets in Lebanese territory. At least 18 people have been killed and dozens injured on Tuesday morning in a bombing around the Rafik Hariri public hospital in Beirut, according to the Ministry of Health. The Government has reported at least 63 deaths in the last 24 hours from Israeli attacks, bringing the total number of deaths to 2,530.
The White House special envoy Amos Hochstein visited Lebanon on Monday with new Israeli demands, according to the media Axios. Israel seeks freedom of action in Lebanon’s airspace and for its army to participate in the “active implementation” of Security Council resolution 1,701. This ended the war between the Israelis and Hezbollah in 2006 and strengthened the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.
