Previous attempts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal have failed.
Blinken, who held talks with Qatar’s prime minister, has been on his first trip to the region since Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered conflict across the Middle East.
Washington, Israel’s close ally, has expressed hope his death can provide an impetus for an end to the fighting.
Israel unleashed its Lebanon offensive with the declared aim of securing the return of tens of thousands of people evacuated from homes in northern Israel during a year of cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah.
Israel has used airstrikes to pound southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, and sent ground forces into areas near the border. Lebanese authorities say the campaign has killed more than 2500 people and displaced more than 1 million people, spawning a humanitarian crisis.
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“As Israel conducts operations to remove the threat to Israel and its people along the border with Lebanon, we have been very clear that this cannot lead, should not lead, to a protracted campaign,” Blinken said in Doha.
Blinken said the US was working on a diplomatic deal which would allow civilians on both sides on the border to return to their homes.
Later, the head of Israel’s military said an end to the conflict with Hezbollah now looked possible.
“In the north [of Israel], there’s a possibility of reaching a sharp conclusion. We thoroughly dismantled Hezbollah’s senior chain of command,” Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in a video statement.
Blinken said Israel should take steps to avoid civilian casualties and not endanger UN peacekeepers or Lebanese troops.
A flock of birds fly as smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.Credit: AP
Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike killed three Lebanese soldiers as they tried to evacuate wounded people from the border village of Yater, the Lebanese army said.
The Lebanese army’s deployment into the south, where Hezbollah holds sway, is seen as vital to any diplomatic resolution to the war.
‘Storm’ of destruction
In Paris, a conference convened by France raised $US200 million ($300 million) for the Lebanese military and $US800 million in humanitarian aid.
“There needs to be a ceasefire in Lebanon. More damage, more victims, more strikes will not enable the end of terrorism or ensure security for everyone,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.
French President Emmanuel Macron: “There needs to be a ceasefire in Lebanon.”Credit: Bloomberg
Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, said a ceasefire was in Israel’s hands. “The storm we are currently witnessing … carries the seeds of total destruction, not only for our country, but for all human values,” he said.
Israeli attacks on Thursday included a strike on a vehicle on a highway from Beirut to the Bekaa Valley – one of Lebanon’s busiest roads. A security source said one person was killed.
The Israeli military said around 120 projectiles fired by Hezbollah had crossed into Israel.
In northern Israel, air raid sirens sounded in Nahariya. Explosions could be heard as air defences fired to intercept rockets.
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At least 25 Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon since the ground operation began three weeks ago. The Israeli military said on Thursday five more soldiers were killed there during combat.
Hezbollah opened fire on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with its Palestinian allies in Gaza. Israel’s Gaza offensive has killed nearly 43,000 people, according to Gaza authorities, and laid waste to the territory. The Hamas-led attack which sparked it killed 1200 people and resulted in another 250 being abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
At least 16 Palestinians were killed, including children, and 32 wounded in an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp, its Al-Awda hospital said.
The Israeli military said it hit a Hamas command and control centre housed in a compound formerly used as a school in the Nuseirat area.
Israel’s military said on Thursday it had killed a Hamas commander, Mohammad Abu Itiwi, who took part in the October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel and who also worked for UN aid agency UNRWA in the Gaza Strip. Israel has accused the agency of having many employees who double as members of Hamas and other armed groups. UNRWA had no immediate comment regarding the latest Israeli allegation.
Reuters
