Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks on the Israel-Palestine situation
Middle East, Qatar-Egypt-USA mediation test
Qatar's latest proposal for a hostage deal would include exiling Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip. The Channel 13 broadcaster supports this, specifying that the plan supported by Doha should be discussed by the Israeli security cabinet this evening. Under the proposal, Israel would allow the exile of Hamas leaders out of Gaza and the complete withdrawal of its soldiers from the enclave in exchange for the gradual release of all hostages still in the hands of the Palestinian group.
Middle East, the war is spreading: Blinken's mission
The extent of the conflict in Middle East feared by the United States is now a concrete reality. While Israel continues operations in the Gaza Strip and strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, Jordan continues to bomb Syria to stop the production of captagon, an amphetamine which became the main economic resource of the Assad regime following the civil war. The Red Sea front is also incandescent, where the Houthis announced that they had attacked an American ship that was “providing support” to Israel with ballistic missiles and drones.
The spokesperson of the pro-Iranian Yemeni militiamen, Yahya Saree, he did not specify whether there had been any damage and spoke of a “preliminary response” to a US raid in which ten comrades were killed. In the morning the Anglo-American forces had reported the shooting down of 18 drones and three missiles launched by the rebels towards the international maritime routes in the Red Sea, on which up to 12% of global trade travels. The Amman army, for its part, claimed to have killed dozens of traffickers and pointed the finger at Iran, accusing it of protecting and supporting the armed groups that manage drug production. “Jordan knows well who is behind all this. It is Iran that supports these militias and their actions represent hostile acts towards us,” said Samih Maayteh, a former minister and figure close to the Jordanian monarchy.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in light of the worsening of tensions, has added two new stops – Lebanon and Bahrain – to what is its fourth diplomatic mission since the beginning of the conflict triggered by the Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7th. Today was the day of his meeting in Ramallah with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, a conversation that Arab media described as “tense” and “marked by arguments.”
In particular, Abbas would have asked Blinken to pressure Israel to release the frozen PA funds. The head of US diplomacy, for his part, reiterated his request to Abbas to reform the authority. “All Palestinian taxes collected by Israel must be systematically transferred to the Palestinian Authority, in accordance with past agreements”, underlined Blinken, however, who reiterated Washington's support for “concrete measures” for the creation of a Palestinian State, of which, Abbas warned, Gaza it is an “inseparable part”.
In Bahrain, home of the US Fifth Fleet, Blinken will discuss with King Hamad how to prevent a regional escalation. In Beirut, the Secretary of State, the Lebanese media report, will instead meet the speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, the prime minister Najib Mikati and other representatives of the authorities. Finally, it will be Egypt's turn, the last hub of a diplomatic tour de force which also encompassed Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops continue to attack Hamas in the Khan Younis area, in southern Gaza, and in Maghazi, in the center of the Strip, where the Tel Aviv armed forces say they have discovered 15 shafts to access the network of underground tunnels. The Islamist movement that governs the Strip reported that an Israeli bombing near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, killed and wounded at least 40 people, while another four people were reported to have died in a attack that hit a Red Crescent ambulance.
“In much of the Strip, Hamas effectively no longer has control,” assures Minister Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, “we are in the midst of dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism. We have determination and patience. Our enemies must know that our determination is infinite.” The Israeli army also announced that it had struck the Hezbollah headquarters in the Kfar Chouba area, in southern Lebanon, and a military building in the Nakoura area.
In the meantime, negotiations continue to achieve the release of other Israeli prisoners held by Hamas. Tel Aviv's war cabinet is currently examining Qatar's new compromise proposal, which calls for the exile of the Palestinian faction's leaders out of Gaza in exchange for the gradual release of all remaining hostages and the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Strip. A new exchange of hostages between Israel and Hamas will be discussed in the new round of talks in which the Jewish State delegation that landed today in Cairo will participate. The Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, reiterated his no to any solution that involves separating the fate of Gaza from that of the West Bank.
READ ALSO: Israel, photos of the hostages displayed at Tel Aviv airport
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