Blinken says this is ‘maybe the last’ chance to get hostages out of Gaza and secure ceasefire
We have more of what Antony Blinken said in Tel Aviv.
“This is a decisive moment – probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security,” Agence France-Presse quoted the top US diplomat as saying during a meeting with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.
Blinken said President Joe Biden had sent him “to get this agreement to the line and ultimately over the line”.
“It is time for it to get done,” Blinken said.
It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process.
We’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity.
Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, is scheduled to meet later on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister.
The visiting secretary of state said it was a “fraught moment” in Israel and warned against any moves that could heighten regional tensions, following threats from Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to avenge the recent killings of two militant leaders.
Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, said Israelis wanted to see the return “as soon as possible” of hostages still held in Gaza since the 7 October attack that triggered the war.
“There is no greater humanitarian objective, and there’s no greater humanitarian cause, than bringing back our hostages,” Herzog told Blinken.
Key events
Hezbollah says two fighters killed in Israeli strike
Lebanese group Hezbollah said Monday two of its fighters were killed and claimed attacks on northern Israel, including with drones, in the latest cross-border violence amid fears of full-blown war.
We had earlier (see post at 09.24BST) reported Lebanon’s health ministry saying that an Israeli strike killed two people in south Lebanon on Monday in the border village of Hula but without giving further details of their identities.
Now Agence France-Presse have reported Hezbollah said two of its fighters were “martyred on the road to Jerusalem”, the phrase the Iran-backed group has used to refer to members killed by Israeli fire since October.
The Israeli military said air forces struck “Hezbollah terrorists” in the Hula area and “Hezbollah military structures” elsewhere in south Lebanon.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli shelling and raids on several southern areas, and said “enemy warplanes broke the sound barrier twice over Beirut and its suburbs… at low altitude”.
Hezbollah said it launched a “simultaneous air attack” with “explosive-laden drones” on two Israeli military positions – the Yaara barracks near the border, and a base near the coastal town of Acre, around 15 kilometres (10 miles) from the frontier.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “multiple suspicious aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon”.
Air defences “intercepted some of the targets, and others fell” in the Yaara area, the statement added.
Police in Istanbul have launched a large-scale investigation after a Palestinian was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting as they sat in a car, officials and media said Monday.
The killer dropped a handgun fitted with a silencer at the scene, the Istanbul governor’s office said in a brief statement, according to Associated Press.
The Demiroren news agency reported that the man sitting in the driver’s seat was killed and his friend seriously wounded in the shooting late Sunday. Another man, who the governor’s office described as the dead man’s bodyguard, was injured in the foot.
The identities of the victims were not disclosed beyond their initials. But the apparently professional nature of the attack led to widespread speculation in the Turkish media over whether Israel may have been involved. It was also suggested that the shooting may be related to business debts.
Turkey has for years provided haven for Hamas officials. In December, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said that his organisation was prepared to target Hamas anywhere, including in Turkey.
Patrick Wintour
Claims of Palestinians being tortured, left untreated in hospital and unable to escape constant bombardment have been submitted to the high court in London by lawyers seeking an order preventing the UK government continuing to grant arms export licences to British companies selling arms to Israel.
The 14 witness statements covering more than 100 pages come from Palestinian and western medical doctors working in Gaza’s hospitals, as well as from ambulance drivers, civil defence department workers and aid workers.
The graphic evidence is designed to support a request for a court order that the UK government has acted irrationally in refusing to ban the sale of arms, arguing there was not a clear risk the weapons would be used to commit breaches of international humanitarian law. This is the statutory test set for the government to decide whether to grant arms export licences. The Labour government is reviewing the policy.
You can read the full story here:
Video footage of top US diplomat Antony Blinken’s meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been released.
U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken warned on Monday that the latest push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal was probably the best and possibly last opportunity, urging Israel and Hamas towards an elusive agreement.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility on Monday for a bomb blast near a synagogue in Tel Aviv that Israeli police and the Shin Bet intelligence agency described as a terrorist attack.
A man who was carrying the bomb was killed and a passerby was injured in the incident late on Sunday, according to police at the scene.
In their statement the Brigades added that their “martyrdom operations” inside Israel would return to the forefront as long as the “occupation’s massacres and assassination policy continue” – an allusion to Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the July 31 killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s death in the Iranian capital.
The US secretary of state has met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and is due to travel on Tuesday to Cairo where ceasefire talks are expected to resume this week.
Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order for an agreement to be reached.
On Sunday Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas “remains obstinate” and must be pressured, a day after his office said Israeli negotiators had expressed “cautious optimism” about reaching a deal.
Here is a first picture of the meeting:
Mediators said they were hopeful about brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war after two days of talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, last week, announcing that a “bridging proposal” had been agreed.
However, previous optimism that a deal was close at hand proved to be misplaced. Joe Biden said in February that he believed a ceasefire agreement was “imminent”, while the beginning of Ramadan in March, and intense diplomatic efforts before Israel’s invasion of Rafah in May, were also touted as “last chances”.
Will the latest talks between Hamas and Israel lead to a ceasefire in Gaza? Read our explainer here:
Back in May, when the image of a decapitated child in Rafah started circulating, my friend texted: This is the image. This is the one. Now the world’s going to roar. For many of us, this has been the reality of the last months: waiting for the image that will shake complacency and complicity; waiting for the image so staggering it’ll be non-negotiable. An amputated toddler. A blown-apart body. A girl hanging from the side of a building. We are still waiting.
As we are saturated with horror, it gets normalized – and Israel’s assault continues unfettered. A Palestinian poet on dehumanization:
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza has said there have now been 40,139 Palestinians killed and 92,743 injured in Israel’s millitary offensive on Gaza since October 7. Gaza’s ministry of health do not distinguish between fighters and civilians in casualty figures.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said it could be the ‘best and last opportunity’ to get hostages held in Gaza home and secure a ceasefire as he arrived in Israel on a diplomatic mission. After landing in Tel Aviv, Blinken was quoted as saying that it was a ‘decisive moment’ for the negotiations. The push comes amid heightened fears of an anticipated Iranian and Hezbollah attack against Israel and the threat of an all-out regional war.
Watch the video:
Israeli police said Monday that a “powerful” explosion the night before in Tel Aviv was a “terror attack” that wounded one person, amid heightened tensions as Gaza mediators push for a truce.
“This was a terror attack involving the explosion of a powerful explosive,” the police force said in a statement. On Sunday authorities reported that the blast had killed one person, who Israeli media said was the suspected assailant.
Israel’s president has claimed there is “no greater global humanitarian cause” than returning his nation’s hostages, as top US diplomat Antony Blinken visits Tel Aviv for peace talks.
Blinken earlier said President Joe Biden had sent him “to get this agreement to the line and ultimately over the line”. “It is time for it to get done,” Blinken said.
Isaac Herzog posted pictures of himself with Blinken on ‘X’ and stated he had thanks him “for the important efforts of the U.S., along with the other mediators, to bring our hostages back home”.
Herzog added: “I reiterated that there is no greater global humanitarian cause than returning our hostages to their families. Side by side with ensuring Israel’s right to self-defense.
“The State of Israel is surrounded and threatened by terror on different fronts, but at the same time, it is also surrounded and supported by allies and friends, chief among them the United States of America.”
He thanked the Biden administration for leading a coalition “to project and deploy power to ensure regional stability and Israel’s right to protect itself”.
This morning, I thanked @SecBlinken for the important efforts of the U.S., along with the other mediators, to bring our hostages back home. I reiterated that there is no greater global humanitarian cause than returning our hostages to their families. Side by side with ensuring… pic.twitter.com/aA0LVg1Tok
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) August 19, 2024
Two people killed by Israeli strike in Lebanon, country’s health ministry says
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike killed two people in south Lebanon on Monday, while Hezbollah claimed attacks on troops and military positions in northern Israel, including with drones.
An “Israeli enemy strike” on the border village of Hula killed two people, Lebanon’s health ministry said, without specifying if they were fighters or civilians.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli shelling and raids on several southern areas, saying “enemy drone strikes” killed two people in Hula.
Hezbollah said Monday it launched a “simultaneous air attack” with “explosive-laden drones” on two Israeli military positions – a barracks near the border and a base near the coastal town of Acre, around 15 kilometres (10 miles) from the frontier.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
