Blinken in Israel in last attempt at ceasefire before US elections

2024-10-22 17:08:05, Kosova & Bota CNA

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Washington resumed efforts for a ceasefire following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Secretary Blinken's visit comes just hours after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah continued to carry out airstrikes against each other. Washington, along with Arab countries in the region, have been trying for months to broker a ceasefire, but neither side appears ready to budge on their terms. Israel is also expected to attack Iran in response to the Iranian missile attack on October 1.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Tuesday to make another attempt to broker a Middle East ceasefire.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's office released several photos from the meeting, but did not release an announcement about the conversation between the two officials.

Secretary Blinken will also meet with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other officials as he begins the week-long trip that will also take him to Jordan and Qatar.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Tuesday that there will be no negotiations while the fighting continues.

Secretary Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday hours after the Hezbollah group launched an airstrike with a barrage of rockets over central Israel.

No casualties have been reported so far, but part of a downed rocket hit a residential area in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak.

Israel's multi-layered air defenses have intercepted the vast majority of rockets and drones fired at it since the start of the Gaza war.

The Lebanese group's attack came hours after Israel attacked an area of ??southern Beirut, home to Lebanon's largest public health facility. Thirteen people were killed during the attack, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

The Israeli military said the Hezbollah group has hidden hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker built under the hospital.

Sahel hospital staff denied the allegation.

"There are no Hezbollah tunnels, no underground projects. The hospital consists of two floors above ground and two floors underground. On the first floor underground is the kitchen and operating rooms, and one floor below are two generators, the morgue and maintenance facilities," says one of the nurses at Sahel Hospital in Beirut.

This is Secretary Blinken's 11th trip to the region since the war began on October 7 last year when the Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel. News agencies report that this is Washington's latest attempt to persuade the parties to stop fighting before the US presidential elections on November 5.

Israel is also expected to take revenge on Iran due to the Islamic republic's attack with hundreds of rockets on October 1.

During the October 7 attack, Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, some of whom were released after a ceasefire agreement between the parties.

The Israeli military response, according to the data of the Palestinian authorities, caused the killing of over 42 thousand people in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israel has also sent troops to Lebanon, where it is fighting with the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, which, like the Palestinian group Hamas, has the support of Iran.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States. The European Union has blacklisted only the military wing of the group, but not the political party./ VOA