U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet with Israeli leaders Tuesday as he makes a push to revive stalled Gaza cease-fire talks, enable greater humanitarian access to Gaza and deescalate the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Making his 11th visit to the region since the conflict in Gaza erupted in October 2023, Blinken’s schedule Tuesday includes talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Months of negotiations brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar failed to secure a halt in the fighting in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
A senior State Department official told reporters ahead of Blinken’s visit to the region that prospects for quickly reviving those talks are uncertain, particularly after Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week.
Blinken is also expected to make several other stops in the region, including a visit Wednesday to Jordan.
The State Department official said that without a cease-fire, discussions with Arab leaders would include trying to refine proposals for governing Gaza once the conflict ends. The official said the U.S. side has elements of a post-conflict plan it was ready to discuss directly with the Israelis as well.
Nimrod Goren, senior fellow for Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute, told VOA that gaps between Israeli and Hamas positions on any potential cease-fire terms “still very much exist” and that he doubts there will be a diplomatic breakthrough during Blinken’s visit.
“The gaps are major, basically Israel wants Hamas not to govern Gaza anymore and not to exist in Gaza anymore as a security threat, and Hamas wants the opposite. So, beyond the immediate issue of the hostages, the deep interests and needs of each side are in contrast to each other,” Goren said.
The State Department on Monday highlighted the worsening humanitarian situation in northern Gaza.
“Certainly, nobody in the U.S. government is going to stand in front of you and say that we are satisfied or find the humanitarian situation in any part of Gaza satisfactory,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters. “And these are one of the things that we expect the secretary to raise directly and discuss, not just with partners in Israel but other counterpart countries on what more can be done to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. A number of border crossings are open. We are seeing truckloads enter the Gaza Strip and will continue to press for more.”
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in Beirut on Monday for talks aimed at trying to bring a resolution to the conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Hochstein told reporters he had a “constructive” meeting with Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, and that while in Lebanon he would speak with members of the government, the military and anyone else who is willing to work on putting the country “on a new course of strength, security, stability and ultimately, economic prosperity.”
He highlighted U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which was adopted at the end of the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and includes a call for Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters to the north of Lebanon’s Litani River and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.
Hochstein said nobody made any efforts to implement the resolution, adding that both sides simply committing to implementation is not enough. He repeated that the goal is to build confidence on both sides that the resolution will be carried out, and to make sure the halting of the conflict is done in a way that ensures it will not repeat in a month or a year.
“The people of Lebanon, like everyone in the region, just want to go home, build a peaceful, secure and safe prosperous future for themselves and their families,” Hochstein said.
Israel says its goal is to push Hezbollah away from border areas to allow for the safe return of Israeli citizens to areas in northern Israel.
Iran-backed Hezbollah launched aerial attacks against Israel following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. Hamas killed about 1,200 people and captured about 250 others.
Israel’s counteroffensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 42,600 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its count.
The United States, United Kingdom, European Union and others have designated Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.