USA: Foreign Minister visits other Middle Eastern countries to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas
The US Secretary of State continued his trip to the Middle East this Saturday (14th) to negotiate the protection of civilians in the conflict. In Lebanon, the funeral of a Portal journalist who died this Friday (13) drew a crowd.
Hundreds of people attended the funeral of journalist Issam Abdallah. Family, friends and colleagues carried the coffin draped in a Lebanese flag.
Abdallah worked with other journalists near the village of Alma alShaab in Lebanon, near the border with Israel, where Israelis and the militant group Hezbollah were engaged in firefights.
A colleague said they were filming rockets fired from Israel when one of them hit the journalist while they were broadcasting the signal live.
The Israeli army said on Saturday (14) that it was investigating the situation.
The Portal agency, where Abdallah worked, said it could not confirm whether the rockets actually came from Israel.
Lebanon said it would lodge a formal complaint with the UN Security Council and blamed Israel for the journalist’s death.
Brazil presides over the Security Council and has drawn up a preliminary document that will constitute a joint declaration on the war.
In it, he condemns what he calls a terrorist attack by Hamas, calls for the opening of humanitarian corridors and the restoration of electricity, water, food everything necessary for the survival of the civilian population and calls for an immediate ceasefire.
The next meeting of the Security Council will take place next week.
On Saturday, President Joe Biden spoke by phone with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Biden said he was also in contact with the United Nations and the governments of Egypt and Jordan to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid.
He sent America’s top diplomats to the Middle East to confirm support from neighboring countries.
Anthony Blinken met Saudi Foreign Minister and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed in Abu Dhabi. He called for the protection of civilians in the face of an impending Israeli ground attack.
The New York Times newspaper revealed more details about the Hamas attack on January 7. The newspaper states that Israel found documents from October 2022 with the plan for this attack. In other words, it had already been in the works for a year.
Hamas used drones to destroy communications towers on the border, allowing 2,000 Hamas members to leave Gaza and attack 15 Israeli cities before reinforcements arrived. According to the newspaper, the order was to kill as many civilians as possible.
The report shows that one of the groups set off on five motorcycles. Two snipers shoot at Israelis. 15 km further they found a military base with no guard at the gate.
According to the newspaper, one of the soldiers had a detailed map of the military base. Using this map, they found an unlocked door to the base’s intelligence center and murdered two soldiers hiding under the bed.
The speed, precision and scale of the Hamas attack left Israeli forces in disarray, forcing civilians to stand for hours, each man alone.
Israel says that after the war it will investigate how it got so much information.