The US Secretary of State landed in Tel Aviv on Monday evening after several stops in the region, as the Israeli army, whose campaign against Hamas entered its fourth month, announced that it would carry out operations more targeted in central and southern Gaza. Sirens warning of rocket fire sounded Monday in central and southern Israel, as well as near the border with Lebanon, where Israeli strikes and exchanges of fire with Hezbollah militants backed by the Iran raise fears of an extension of the conflict towards the north.
The main information to remember:
- Antony Blinken to meet Israeli leaders on Tuesday and push for de-escalation of Gaza war
- Sirens warning of rocket fire sounded Monday in central and southern Israel, as well as near the border with Lebanon
- Exchanges of fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants raise fears of conflict extending northwards
- The Israeli army announced early Tuesday the deaths of four soldiers, bringing to 180 the number of deaths in its ranks since the start of ground operations in Gaza
Hezbollah “commander” dies in Israeli strike
Hezbollah announced Monday the death of one of its “commanders”, Wissam Hassan Tawil, in an Israeli strike, which constitutes a first since October for this movement. A Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tawil “had a leading role” in Hezbollah’s operations in the south. The Israeli army said it struck Hezbollah “military sites” in Lebanon, but did not immediately comment on the death of the Hezbollah official. This raid comes after the death of Hamas number two, Saleh al-Arouri, in a strike in Lebanon in early January.
On Monday, the Israeli army also announced that it had killed a “central figure” of Hamas in Syria, Hassan Akasha. “He was a central figure responsible for rockets fired towards Israel by Hamas from Syrian territory in recent weeks,” the army said. Repeated Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Syria, as well as escalating attacks on US forces in Iraq and the campaign against ships in the Red Sea by Yemeni rebels in support of Hamas, are raising fears that the rest of the Middle East not be drawn into this war.
To try to defuse this spiral of violence, Antony Blinken began a new regional tour, the fourth since the start of the war, which notably took him to Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Directorate of the military campaign
In Israel on Tuesday, the secretary of state was scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as President Isaac Herzog, the country’s war cabinet, and the defense and foreign ministers. He is due to meet later today with war cabinet member and opposition figure Benny Gantz.
In Saudi Arabia, Antony Blinken said he had discussed the normalization of relations between Israel and the kingdom, whose negotiations had been suspended by Riyadh a week after the start of the war following the Hamas attack on October 7. He also added that Washington would work with countries in the region for the reconstruction and stabilization of Gaza.
“Talk about the direction the military campaign in Gaza will take”
Faced with a death toll which now exceeds 23,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip according to the Hamas government, the American Secretary of State said he wanted to “talk about the direction that the military campaign in Gaza will take” and “insist on the absolute imperative” that Israel “do more to protect civilians.” Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, a movement designated as terrorist by the United States and the European Union, after its unprecedented attack on its territory on October 7, which killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to a count of AFP based on the Israeli assessment.
The Israeli army announced early Tuesday the deaths of four soldiers, bringing to 180 the number of deaths in its ranks since the start of ground operations in Gaza. In this territory, bombings razed entire neighborhoods, displaced 85% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis according to the UN.
“Declared policy” of starvation
International organizations are warning of the ongoing health disaster, with humanitarian aid arriving in trickles, despite a UN Security Council resolution. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the United States, joined Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem on Monday in condemning an “overt policy” of famine in Gaza led by Israel.
Antony Blinken should pressure Israel to respect international humanitarian law and call for “immediate steps” to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza. As Israel’s main ally and arms supplier, Washington is increasingly concerned about the number of civilian casualties in the war, and President Joe Biden said Monday that he is working “discreetly with the Israeli government to lead him to reduce” the presence of his troops in Gaza.
Reduced troop deployment from January
At the same time, the Israeli army announced a new phase of the war in Gaza. Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari told the New York Times that it would involve fewer troops and airstrikes, and added that troop deployment would be reduced from January.
“Although there are still terrorists and weapons in the north, they no longer operate within an organized military framework,” he said during a press briefing, adding that troops “now operate differently in this area”. “These are always complex operations, with heavy fighting carried out both in the center and in the south. The fighting will continue during 2024,” he said. In Gaza on Sunday, two journalists working for Al Jazeera were killed by an Israeli strike on their vehicle, according to the Qatari channel. One of them, Moustafa Thuraya, was also an AFP collaborator.
Violence at a level not seen in almost twenty years in the West Bank
The Israeli army took responsibility for the shooting, telling AFP that it had “hit a terrorist who was piloting a flying device posing a threat to troops”, and that it was “aware of reports that, during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle were also hit.” The conflict has also increased violence to a level not seen in nearly twenty years in the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
The Palestinian Health Ministry announced Monday that three men were killed in Tulkarem by Israeli fire. Israeli police, for their part, indicated that three men were killed and two others injured during an operation aimed at arresting a “wanted terrorist” near this town. Since the start of the war, cross-border hostilities have left more than 180 dead in Lebanon, including more than 135 Hezbollah fighters, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, nine soldiers and five civilians were killed, according to the authorities.