US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza after his administration called for an end to the war in Lebanon "as soon as possible."
This marks his 11th trip to the Middle East since Hamas's attack on Israel over a year ago, which triggered the Gaza war, and his first visit since the conflict with Hezbollah escalated late last month.
Blinken is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials as Israel considers its response to Iran's missile attack on October 1.
Previous US attempts to end the Gaza war and mitigate its regional impact have been unsuccessful, including a bid led by President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron to secure a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon.
After his visit to Israel, Blinken will travel to Jordan on Wednesday to discuss humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, according to an official traveling with him.
On Monday, US envoy to Lebanon Amos Hochstein stated that his administration was seeking an end to the war "as soon as possible," advocating for a ceasefire based on a UN resolution that ended a previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Under Resolution 1701, Hezbollah was expected to withdraw from areas in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border, leaving only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers deployed there. However, Hezbollah remained south of the Litani River and began launching low-intensity cross-border strikes into Israel in support of its Palestinian ally, Hamas.
After nearly a year of war in Gaza, Israel has shifted its focus to Lebanon, pledging to secure its northern border to enable tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by cross-border fire to return home.
Israel has increased its airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds across the country and, on September 30, deployed ground troops in a conflict that has resulted in at least 1,489 deaths since September 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
The wars in Gaza and Lebanon have also involved other Iran-aligned armed groups in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq.
Iran warned on Monday that the United States would bear "full responsibility" for any Israeli retaliation to its missile attack on October 1.
Blinken also plans to discuss an expected military strike on Iran with Israeli leaders and to discourage any actions that could significantly escalate regional conflict, according to the official traveling with him.
Hezbollah Targets
Hezbollah announced on Tuesday that it launched a barrage of rockets targeting two positions in Israel's commercial hub, Tel Aviv, including an intelligence base. The group also claimed to have targeted the "Stella Maris naval base" near Haifa.
This claim followed Israel's announcement that it struck approximately 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon within 24 hours, intensifying its campaign against the group's finances.
Lebanon's health ministry reported that four people were killed and 24 others wounded on Monday in Israeli strikes near the country's largest public hospital in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The ministry also reported six deaths in Baalbek and four rescuers linked to Hezbollah killed in southern Israeli raids over 24 hours.
Israel's military stated that an underground vault containing tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold was among nearly 30 targets belonging to the Hezbollah-linked financial firm Al-Qard al-Hassan struck since Sunday. The funds in the vault were allegedly "being used to finance Hezbollah's attacks on Israel," according to Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. Al-Qard al-Hassan is subject to US sanctions and is part of a network of associations, schools, and hospitals linked to Hezbollah.
Searching for Survivors
Shortly after Israel's military advised residents to evacuate parts of Beirut, the Ouzai neighborhood, just a few kilometers from the city center, was struck for the first time during the conflict, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA).
Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers told AFP they were searching for survivors amidst the destruction in Ouzai. They reported that the evacuation order, followed by the strike, caused "panic among residents," who "started to run in the streets."
"They didn’t leave any room for people to escape. The strike came closely after the warning," one rescuer stated.
While most areas in Beirut's southern suburbs had been mostly empty for almost a month, the densely populated residential area of Ouzai still housed many residents.
A Lebanese security official informed AFP that the country’s national airline had to change its landing strips after Israeli strikes near Beirut’s only international airport hit close to the main runway.
'We Will Die of Hunger'
In the Gaza Strip, Israel launched a significant air and ground assault in northern Gaza earlier this month, vowing to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping in the area.
Gaza's civil defense agency reported four Palestinian deaths in strikes on Monday, with several homes destroyed in the northern area of Jabalia, a focal point of recent fighting. A displaced resident remarked that Jabalia "is being wiped out."
"If we don’t die from the bombing and gunfire, we will die of hunger," said 42-year-old Umm Firas Shamiyah, demanding that aid be sent to the north.
Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have fled the assault on northern Gaza, and according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, around 400,000 people were trapped in the area last week. The UN has warned of the risk of famine in Gaza, with only 396 aid trucks entering the territory so far this month—far below the 3,003 seen in September.
The war was ignited by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 last year, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, primarily civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. Israel's offensive in Gaza has claimed 42,603 lives, with a majority being civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN deems reliable.
With AFP
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