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One of the leaders of the terrorist group Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh, appealed this Tuesday, January 9, to Muslim countries to “support” him in his war against Israel in the Gaza Strip and to provide him with “weapons”:
“The role of the Muslim nation (…) is important” and “the time has come to support the resistance with weapons, because it is the battle of AlAqsa and not just the battle of the Palestinian people,” he explained in Doha speech, the text of which was transmitted to the media in the Gaza Strip.
The AlAqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is Islam's third holiest site.
Antony Blinken in the Middle East
The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, in turn, will meet with Israeli leaders this Tuesday, the 9th, to press for a deescalation of the war in Gaza.
Israel is experiencing a “very difficult time” but it has “opportunities” for “real integration” with its Arab neighbors, the US Secretary of State said in Tel Aviv, where he is continuing his tour of the Middle East.
“I know the efforts you have made over several years to build much better connections and integration in the Middle East. And I think there are real opportunities in this area. But we must overcome this very difficult moment,” Antony Blinken said at the start of a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
This is Blinken's fourth visit to Israel since the start of the Gaza war and follows attacks in Syria and Lebanon that killed two senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials.
The threat from Hezbollah
In response to the elimination of Hamas' number two and a highranking military officer from its circle, Hezbollah says it wants to attack an Israeli army command center in the north of the country.
The Israeli military said it had attacked Hezbollah military sites in Lebanon but did not immediately comment on the death of the Hezbollah officer.
On Monday, January 8, the Israeli army announced that it had killed a central figure of Hamas in Syria, Hassan Akasha: “He was a central figure responsible for the rockets that Hamas launched in recent times had fired at Israel from Syrian territory for weeks,” the army said.
The escalation of the conflict
Israeli attacks in Lebanon and Syria, as well as the escalation of attacks on US forces in Iraq and the attack on ships in the Red Sea by Yemeni rebels supporting Hamas, increase the risk that the rest of the Middle East will be drawn into the war.
With the aim of avoiding this, Antony Blinken began his new tour, which took him to Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and finally Israel.
The foreign minister is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as President Isaac Herzog and the defense and foreign ministers. He is also expected to meet with war cabinet member and opposition figure Benny Gantz.