U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is holding talks in Israel as he seeks a plan for Gaza’s post-war future.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced tough talks with Israeli leaders on Gaza’s post-war future Tuesday, while Israel’s military pushed ahead with its offensive in the beleaguered territory, including heavy bombardment and fighting that shook refugee camps.
The fighting sent Palestinians scrambling to find safety and hampered aid groups’ efforts to get relief to the population.
Blinken said he had promises from four Arab nations and Turkey to help rebuild Gaza after the war. But those nations also want to see an end to the fighting in Gaza and concrete steps toward the eventual creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, something Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow.
The U.S. and Israel also remain deeply divided over how Gaza will be run when — and if — its current Hamas rulers are defeated. American officials have called for the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to take the reins in Gaza. Israeli leaders have rejected that idea but have not put forward a concrete plan beyond saying they will maintain open-ended military control over the territory.
At the same time, Blinken is trying to prevent an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. After an Israeli strike last week hit Beirut, killing Hamas’s deputy leader, the two sides have stepped up their exchanges.
“There is lots to talk about, in particular about the way forward,” Blinken said after meeting Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah said its exploding drones targeted the Israeli army northern command in the town of Safed — deeper into Israel than previous fire by the group. The Israeli military said a drone fell at a base in the north without causing damage, suggesting it had been intercepted. Military officials did not identify the base.
The United States has pressed Israel to scale down its offensive in Gaza to more precise operations targeting Hamas. But the pace of death and destruction has remained largely the same, with several hundred Palestinians killed each day, according to health officials in Gaza.
Israel has vowed to keep going until it destroys Hamas throughout the territory, in response to the attack on Oct. 7, when terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, in southern Israel and kidnapped around 250 others. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
