End The War In Gaza Now –  US Tells Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday “now is the time” to end the conflict in Gaza, and urged Israel to avoid further escalation with Iran.

Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has pledged to hit back against Iran’s October 1 missile strike.

In Lebanon, AFP correspondents reported several Israeli air strikes on Tyre, after the military warned residents of parts of the coastal city to flee ahead of operations targeting Hezbollah.

The warning sparked a new exodus from the once vibrant city, which is perched on the Mediterranean coast, and AFPTV footage showed plumes of thick black smoke rising from the city after the strikes.

“The situation is very bad, we’re evacuating people,” said Mortada Mhanna, who heads Tyre’s disaster management unit.

“You could say that the entire city of Tyre is being evacuated,” said Bilal Kashmar, the unit’s media officer.

Blinken’s visit to the region is his 11th since the start of the war in Gaza and his first since Israel-Hezbollah violence escalated to all-out war late last month.

Previous US efforts to end the Gaza war and contain the regional fallout have failed.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

srael’s retaliatory offensive has killed 42,718 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the UN considers reliable.

“Since October 7 a year ago, Israel has achieved most of its strategic objectives when it comes to Gaza… Now is the time to turn those successes into enduring, strategic success,” Blinken said as he left Israel, following meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials.

On aid to Gaza, Blinken said he saw “progress being made, which is good, but more progress needs to be made and, most critically, it needs to be sustained”.

Of Israel’s pledge to retaliate for Iran’s October 1 missile attack, the US top diplomat said: “It’s also very important that Israel respond in ways that do not create greater escalation.”

A young masked supporter of Yemen’s Huthis stands on the shoulders of a person while holding a picture of Hamas’ slain leader Yahya Sinwar while chanting slogans during a rally held in the Huthi-controlled capital Sanaa on October 18, 2024 in protest against Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. – Israel announced on October 17 the killing of Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7 attack, calling his death a “heavy blow” to the Palestinian group it has been fighting for more than a year. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)

After Israel, Blinken began a visit to Saudi Arabia, which has put on hold talks towards a normalisation deal with Israel until a Palestinian state is created.

The US diplomat urged Israel to seize what he described as an “incredible opportunity in this region to move in a totally different direction”.

“Saudi Arabia would be right at the heart of that, and that includes potentially normalisation of relations with Israel,” he said.

Blinken will then visit Qatar and Britain, where he will hold talks with Arab counterparts on the Gaza and Lebanon wars.

AFP