Attacks by Hezbollah More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and Israeli military positions are making people worry that the war between Israel and Hamas could spread to other countries in the region. Blinken wants to let in more help for Palestinians and let out more foreigners and injured Palestinians.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken went to Israel to push for more emergency aid to be sent to occupied Gaza. At the same time, Israeli troops tightened their control over Gaza City, which is where the Hamas group that rules the region is based.
Tensions rose along the northern border with Lebanon before Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, gave a speech. This is the first time he has talked in public since Hamas attacked Israel a month ago.
Hezbollah, a friend of Hamas backed by Iran, struck Israeli military sites in northern Israel with artillery fire, suicide drones, and drones. This made people more worried that the war between Israel and Hamas could spread to other countries in the area. The Israeli forces said that they responded with aeroplanes and gunships on helicopters.
Hezbollah has been trying to keep Israel’s forces busy on the border with Lebanon since the war started on October 7. So far, they haven’t done anything that would start a full-on war.
So far, more than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and another 1,400 have died in Israel. Most of the Israeli deaths were civilians during Hamas’s first attack.
Third visit
Since the Hamas attack, Mr. Blinken is going to Israel for the third time. This trip takes him to Tel Aviv and Amman, Jordan. It’s in response to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s call for a “pause” in the war to help people. The goal is to let in help for the Palestinians and let out more foreigners and hurt people. In the last two days, about 800 people have left Gaza.
Israel did not react right away to Mr. Biden’s idea. But Mr. Netanyahu, who had earlier said there would be no cease-fire, said on Thursday, “We are moving forward.” We won’t let anything stop us. He promised to get rid of Hamas’s control over the Gaza Strip.
It’s been almost four weeks since Hamas terrorists killed hundreds of men, women, and children and captured about 240 others. The US has promised to always stand by Israel.
The U.S. State Department said again before Mr. Blinken left that the U.S. “supports Israel’s right to defend itself.” At the same time, the Biden administration has been pushing Israel to let more aid into Gaza because of the growing concern over the humanitarian situation there.
The Health Ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, says that more than 3,700 Palestinian children have been killed in 25 days of fighting. Food, water, and fuel are running out because of Israel’s siege, and hospitals that are already overloaded say they are about to break.
Helpers say that the 260 cars bringing food and medicine that Israel has let through the crossing are not nearly enough. The Israeli government has refused to let fuel in.
John Kirby, a spokesman for national security at the White House, said that the U.S. was not calling for a general cease-fire but rather a “temporary, localised” stop.
A big question on Mr. Blinken’s list for his planned trip, according to the U.S. State Department, is what would happen next if Hamas took over Gaza. There doesn’t seem to be a clear plan from either Israel or the U.S.
Earlier this week, Mr. Blinken said that the Palestinian Authority should run Gaza. When Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, it pushed the government’s troops out of the area. In some parts of the West Bank that Israel occupies, the authority now only has restricted power.
Military officials say that Israeli forces have now fully surrounded Gaza City, which is made up of a lot of close-together neighbourhoods. Israel says that Gaza City is the centre of Hamas’s military infrastructure and has a huge network of underground tunnels, bunkers, and command centres.
Eight Palestinians were killed in raids by Israel in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said that Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in raids across the West Bank on Friday. The violence in the seized territory is rising along with the war in Gaza.
It said that three guys between the ages of 17 and 26 were killed in Jenin, a city in the north. A drone attack on a house in the city’s refugee camp killed two of them.
There were two more Palestinians killed during a military raid on the Fawwar refugee camp in the southern city of Hebron. They were 33 and 36 years old.
The Ministry also said that a 17-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed in Hebron later that same day.
The Israelis killed a 29-year-old Palestinian man in the Qalandiya refugee camp, which is in the West Bank and is between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
A Palestinian man, 33 years old, was “killed by (Israeli) occupation bullets” in Budrus, a town west of Ramallah, which is the seat of the Palestinian Authority, near the start of the afternoon.
