Blinken in Israel during the final major ceasefire campaign prior to the US election

In the final effort before a presidential election that may completely change U.S. policy, Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. This was the first significant U.S. push for a truce in the Middle East since Israel murdered the Hamas leader last week.

As Hezbollah fired missiles into Tel Aviv and Haifa and Israeli airstrikes hammered areas of Beirut’s southern suburbs, including one that completely collapsed a multi-story building and sent a new wave of terrified people escaping, Blinken started his meetings in Israel.

Both the year-long war in Gaza and its spillover battle between Israel and the Iranian-backed armed organization Hezbollah in Lebanon have not been resolved despite several diplomatic attempts.

Blinken has a difficult task ahead of him on his eleventh visit to the area since the start of the Gaza War.

Hezbollah claimed credit for a drone strike on Netanyahu’s vacation house on Saturday and declared on Tuesday that there would be no talks as long as fighting went on.

Washington expects that a new chance for peace would arise from the killing of Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar, Israel’s most wanted man, who is accused of starting the year of war by organizing the fatal attack on Israeli land on October 7 of last year.

However, Israel has not backed down in its military assaults to yet, even after killing a number of officials of Iran’s allies, Hamas and Hezbollah, which lost its influential secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on September 27.

The U.N. Palestinian refugee organization UNRWA demanded a short-term ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday to let people to evacuate northern regions of the territory where Israeli forces were pursuing Hamas terrorists.

According to Gaza health officials, Israeli soldiers have murdered over 20 individuals. They claimed that dozens of bodies were lying behind debris and on the sides of the highways.
“Hospitals ran out of coffins to prepare the dead,” Gaza’s health ministry head Munir Al-Bursh stated.

TEL AVIV SIRENS

At the beginning of a weeklong tour that will also include stops in Jordan and Qatar, Blinken was meeting with Netanyahu and other officials. According to U.S. officials, he is investigating strategies for post-conflict governance and reconstruction in Gaza, which is essential to achieving a truce.

Iran and its allies, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and armed organizations in Iraq, have declared that their “Axis of Resistance” against American and Israeli interests will prevail.

In support of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis claimed on Tuesday that they had used ballistic missiles to strike an Israeli military installation near Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah launched missiles at what it said were Israeli military sites close to Haifa and Tel Aviv, setting up air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel hours before Blinken’s landing. The rockets appeared to show that Hezbollah’s capabilities have withstood Israel’s most intense attack in decades of conflict.

Israel launched a ground campaign and increased airstrikes against Hezbollah, which had been firing over the border in support of the Palestinians for a year, in the last month, causing the war to expand to Lebanon. One and a half million Lebanese have fled their homes due to Israel’s invasion.

Israel targeted the region close to Beirut’s Rafik Hariri hospital, Lebanon’s primary state medical institution, during a night of intense attacks on south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut. 13 individuals were murdered, according to Lebanese officials.

According to the Israeli military, the hospital was unaffected and had not been targeted. According to director Jihad Saadeh, an Israeli assault close to the hospital caused damage.

Without an Israeli commitment to halt the conflict, Hamas, which is still holding dozens of prisoners in Gaza that were taken during its invasion on Israel on October 7, 2023, will not release them.

Israeli shelling has virtually reduced the enclave to ashes, but Israel vows it will not stop striking until the Islamist terrorist organization is totally eliminated.

Israel killed Sinwar in a battle last week, which Washington and other allies think will lead to a breakthrough by facilitating Netanyahu’s far-right government’s claim that its goals in Gaza have been met.

However, according to diplomats and other sources, Israel is eager to secure a solid position before a new U.S. government becomes power after the election of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on November 5.

Retaliation by Israel against Iran

According to State Department sources, Blinken planned to bring up the topic of what would happen in Gaza when the conflict is finished, with a particular emphasis on security, governance, and rehabilitation. Washington, which now has limited self-rule in that Israeli-occupied area, has long stated that it would prefer Gaza to be reunited with the West Bank under a government headed by the Palestinian Authority.

According to a senior State Department source, Blinken will also talk about Israel’s expected response to an Oct. 1 ballistic missile assault by Iran.

A full-scale conflict between the arch-enemies might be sparked by Israel’s response, according to the allies.

According to Israeli estimates, Hamas-led terrorists assaulted Israeli neighborhoods on October 7 of last year, killing almost 1,200 people and taking over 250 captives, sparking the start of the Gaza war.

42,718 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ensuing air and ground battle in Gaza, according to the enclave’s health authority.