Blinken in Israel as US looks to renew cease-fire efforts

Associated Press Tel Aviv: Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday on his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The US hopes to revive ceasefire efforts after the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, but so far all the warring parties appear to be digging in. Israel is still at war with Hamas more than a year after the militant group's Oct 7 attack, and with Hezbollah in Lebanon, where it launched a ground invasion earlier this month.

Israel is also expected to strike Iran in response to its ballistic missile attack on Oct 1. Blinken landed just hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the country's most populated areas and its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries. The Israeli military said it intercepted most of the five projectiles, with one landing in an open area. Another 15 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel at around the same time, it said. In a separate development, the death toll from an Israeli airstrikes late Monday that destroyed several buildings facing one of Beirut's main hospitals climbed to 13.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said 57 others were wounded in the strikes, including seven who were in critical condition. It said the airstrikes caused significant damage to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the country's largest public hospital, located on the outskirts of southern Beirut. The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah target, without elaborating, and said that it had not targeted the hospital itself. Blinken expected to focus on Gaza The State Department said ahead of the visit that Blinken would focus on ending the war in Gaza, securing the release of hostages held by Hamas and alleviating the suffering of Palestinian civilians. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken would underscore the need for a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, something that Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear in a letter to Israeli officials last week.

That letter reminded Israel that the Biden administration could be forced by US law to curtail some forms of military aid should the delivery of humanitarian aid continue to be hindered. Blinken's previous trips have yielded little in the way of ending hostilities.