US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel on Friday to provide more humanitarian aid and do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza, otherwise there will be “no partners for peace.” Meanwhile, Israel warned that it was on high alert for attacks on its northern border with Lebanon as fears grew that the conflict could spread.
Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City, the focus of their campaign to crush the enclave’s ruling Hamas militants, who launched a brutal attack on Israeli communities that sparked the war.
But since that October 7 attack, there have been fears that the conflict could spark fighting on other fronts, and Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah have engaged in repeated gun battles along the Lebanese border.
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In his first public speech since the war began, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said his group had “entered the fight” with the unprecedented cross-border fighting in recent weeks. “We will not limit ourselves to this,” he said, suggesting that escalation was possible. Nevertheless, Nasrallah refrained from announcing that Hezbollah was fully involved in the war.
On his third trip to Israel since the war began, Blinken reiterated U.S. support for Israel in the war and said it had the right to defend itself. However, he said that amid growing concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, a “humanitarian pause” was needed to increase aid deliveries to Palestinian civilians.
“We believe that each of these efforts would be facilitated by humanitarian pauses and by on-the-ground arrangements that increase security for civilians and enable more effective and sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance,” Blinken told reporters.
And he reiterated Washington’s longstanding support for the eventual recognition of a Palestinian state: “Two states for two peoples. Again, this is the only way to ensure lasting security for a Jewish and democratic Israel.”
Watch: Blinken answers questions in Tel Aviv, calls for humanitarian pause and increased aid to Gaza
After meeting with Blinken, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “rejects a temporary ceasefire that does not provide for the return of our hostages,” referring to about 240 people Hamas kidnapped during its attack. He said Israel was pressing ahead with its military offensive with “all its might.”
Blinken said there must be a significant and immediate increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying: “We must do more to protect Palestinian civilians.”
“We have made it clear that what matters is how Israel conducts its campaign to defeat Hamas,” Blinken said at a news conference. “It is important because it is right and legal. It’s important because not doing it plays into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist groups. There will be no partners for peace if they are engulfed by a humanitarian disaster and alienated by others’ perceived indifference to their plight.”
“High level of readiness”
Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, attacked Israeli military positions in northern Israel on Thursday with drones, mortar fire and suicide drones. The Israeli military said it retaliated with warplanes and attack helicopters, and spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said civilians were injured in the Hezbollah attacks.
“We are on high alert in the north, on a very high state of alert, to respond to any events today and in the coming days,” he said.
Blinken said the U.S., which has aircraft carriers and other forces stationed in the eastern Mediterranean, was committed to ensuring that no “second or third front” was opened in the conflict, referring to Hezbollah.
In his speech, Nasrallah said his militia would not be deterred by U.S. warnings, saying: “Their fleets in the Mediterranean… will not scare us.”
A war with Hezbollah would be devastating for both Israel and Lebanon. Hezbollah is much stronger than Hamas and has an arsenal of around 150,000 rockets and missiles, some of which are believed to be precision-guided weapons capable of striking deep inside Israel.
Israel has vowed to cause widespread destruction in Lebanon if war breaks out and has accused Hezbollah of hiding its military facility amid residential areas. The two enemies fought an inconclusive, months-long war in 2006. Renewed fighting could also see Iran, which supports both Hamas and Hezbollah, drawn into the conflict.
So far, more than 9,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, mostly women and minors, and more than 23,000 people have been injured, the Gaza Strip Health Ministry said, without providing a breakdown by civilians and fighters.
More than 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mostly civilians killed in Hamas’ initial attack, when about 240 people were taken hostage. In addition, around 5,400 people were injured.
Since the ground operation began, 24 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza. Since the start of the war, seven Israeli soldiers and one civilian have been killed in separate incidents along Israel’s border with Lebanon.
Like American officials before him, Blinken pledged unwavering support for Israel and its right to defend itself.
Soldiers from an Israeli artillery unit operate in Sderot, Israel, near the Gaza Strip border, Nov. 3, 2023. Amir Levy/Getty Images
“We strongly argue that Israel has not only the right but also the duty to defend itself and ensure that October 7 never happens again,” said Blinken, who also plans to visit Amman, Jordan. It follows President Joe Biden’s proposal for a humanitarian “pause” in fighting. The goal would be to let aid in for Palestinians and let out more Palestinians with foreign passports and the wounded.
Around 800 people left Gaza in the last two days – the first time people have left the besieged area, apart from four hostages released by Hamas and another hostage rescued by Israeli forces.
Blinken initially held closed-door talks with Netanyahu before beginning broader talks with the leader and his war cabinet, as well as a meeting with President Isaac Herzog.
“Nothing will stop us”
In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, more than 3,700 Palestinian children were killed in 25 days of fighting, according to the health ministry. More than half of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been forced from their homes by bombing. Food, water and fuel are running low under Israel’s siege and overwhelmed hospitals warn they are on the verge of collapse.
CBS News correspondent Ramy Inocencio reported Friday that in Gaza, Israeli shelling around the enclave’s second-largest hospital, Al Quds, had not stopped for several days, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
Further south in central Gaza, survivors are searching for victims of an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp, home to an estimated 45,000 Palestinians, Inocencio reported. According to the Hamas-run civil defense in the Gaza Strip, at least 15 people died.
The video showed a father sitting next to his injured sons and pointing to his children: “Film to the whole world, here are those who are firing the rockets, film to all the people. Here they are, here they are, America.” Here they are, Israel. They are children.”
Israel has allowed more than 260 trucks carrying food and medicine into the Gaza Strip, but aid workers say this is far from enough. Israeli authorities have refused to allow fuel imports, saying Hamas is stockpiling fuel for military use and would steal new supplies.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was not calling for a general ceasefire, but rather a “temporary, localized” pause.
Israel has not openly responded to Mr. Biden’s proposal. But Netanyahu, who had previously ruled out a ceasefire, said on Thursday: “We are moving forward. … Nothing will stop us.” He promised to destroy Hamas’ rule in the Gaza Strip.
Israel and the U.S. appear to have no clear plan for what would happen next if Hamas rule in Gaza is overthrown – a key issue on Blinken’s agenda during the visit, according to the State Department.
Meanwhile, military officials said Israeli forces have now completely encircled Gaza City, a dense collection of neighborhoods that Israel says is the center of Hamas’s military infrastructure and includes a vast network of underground tunnels, bunkers and command centers.
Israeli forces are “fighting in a built-up, dense and complex area,” said military chief of staff Herzi Halevy.
Hagari, the military spokesman, said Israeli forces were engaged in “frontal” battles with militants, calling for airstrikes and shelling if necessary. He said they inflicted heavy casualties on Hamas militants and destroyed their infrastructure with technical equipment.
Hamas’s military wing said early Friday that its fighters had fought Israeli troops in several areas in the Gaza Strip and said they had killed four soldiers on the northern edge of the town of Beit Lahiya. It was also claimed to have destroyed several tanks with locally manufactured anti-tank missiles.
Neither Israel nor Hamas’ reports could be independently verified.
Casualties were expected to mount on both sides as Israeli troops advanced on Gaza City’s densely populated residential areas. Israel has warned residents to immediately evacuate the Shati refugee camp, which borders central Gaza City.
But hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain in the way of the fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, despite Israel’s repeated calls for them to flee. Many crowded into UN facilities in the hope of safety.
According to Philippe Lazzarini, secretary-general of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, four U.N. schools in the northern Gaza Strip and Bureij, which have been converted into emergency shelters, were still hit in recent days. 24 people were killed.
Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians at various locations and arrested many more in the occupied West Bank overnight, according to Israeli military and Palestinian health authorities.
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