Over fifty rockets and a swarm of drones fired by Hezbollah have hit a number of homes in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, injuring one person.
The Lebanese militant group carried out the strikes on Wednesday the same day that Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, met with mediators from Egypt and Qatar, despite Hamas and Israel denying any possibility of a pause in the fighting in Gaza.
Joe Biden, the president of the United States, called Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, on Wednesday.
After that, the White House stated: The president discussed upcoming talks in Cairo to remove any remaining obstacles and emphasized how urgent it was to conclude the ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
Egypt expressed skepticism regarding the encouraging statements being made by the United States as additional details of a proposal meant to bridge the gap between Hamas and Israel emerged on Wednesday.
An official told the Associated Press, “The Americans are offering promises, not guarantees, regarding the ceasefire.” Hamas won’t accept this because it basically means that Hamas will release the civilian hostages in exchange for a six-week ceasefire without any guarantees of a permanent one.
Additionally, the official stated that the proposal did not expressly state that Israel would withdraw its forces from the Philadelphi corridor and the Netzarim corridor, which traverses the territory from east to west. This is unacceptable for both Hamas and us,” he stated.
In the midst of a Democratic party convention that has sparked pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Chicago, Blinken’s efforts and at first positive remarks appeared to be designed in part to convince skeptic voters that the Biden administration was working to end the violence.
Through his insistence that Israeli troops should remain in the Philadelphi corridor, relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have continued to assert that Netanyahu is attempting to undermine a ceasefire-for-hostages agreement.
Hamas claims that Netanyahu has added a number of conditions to a previous agreement draft that make it unacceptable to Hamas. The claim has been refuted by Netanyahu.
An anonymous participant in the talks, according to the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz, claimed that Netanyahu was attempting to “sabotage” any agreement. The official declared, At a time when delicate negotiations are underway to find a solution at the Gaza-Egypt border, Netanyahu’s statements that Israel would not withdraw only make it more difficult to find a solution, raising suspicions and signaling to Hamas and the mediators that Netanyahu is not interested in a deal.
It is abundantly clear that Blinken’s most recent effort has mirrored previous rounds of negotiations, with the secretary of state reappearing from meetings with the Israeli prime minister and making optimistic remarks that were swiftly rejected. Hamas accused the United States of giving in to Israel’s “new conditions” and referred to the most recent proposal as a “reversal” of previous agreements.
In addition to the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon, the Israeli assault on Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 40,000 Palestinians, In order for Hezbollah to cease its own fighting, the conflict in Gaza must be resolved.
According to Hezbollah, the attack on Wednesday was in response to an Israeli strike on Tuesday night deep inside Lebanon that left one person dead and 19 injured. Also on Tuesday, after Israel struck a Hezbollah weapons depot about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the border, Hezbollah fired more than 200 projectiles at Israel, significantly increasing the daily battles.
In 1967, Israel annexed Syria’s Golan Heights, claiming that the strategic plateau was essential to its security. The United States is the only nation to acknowledge the annexation; the rest of the world considers the area to be occupied Syrian territory.
On Wednesday, Israel killed a senior member of the Palestinian Fatah movement in Lebanon because it thought he was planning attacks in the West Bank. The Fatah party responded by saying that Israel was trying to “ignite a regional war.” According to Fatah and a security source in Lebanon, Khalil al-Maqdah was killed in a car attack in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.
An AFP count shows that the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah has resulted in the deaths of nearly 600 people, the majority of whom are Hezbollah fighters, as well as at least 130 civilians. According to figures from the Israeli army, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights.
The British military reported that on Wednesday, a commercial ship traveling through the Red Sea was repeatedly attacked, rendering it “not under command” and setting it ablaze. The attack was thought to have been carried out by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
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