- US Secretary of State to seek ceasefire in Egypt
- Blinken's visit comes in the wake of massive bombings in Lebanon
- The war continues to claim victims: even humanitarian aid is being targeted
- Tens of thousands of civilians have already died in the conflict
US Secretary of State to seek ceasefire in Egypt
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to land in Cairo on Wednesday, where he will try to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war. However, efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza are expected to be further complicated by the wave of explosions in Lebanon.
This is Blinken's tenth trip to the Middle East since the outbreak of war in Gaza almost a year ago. The US State Department reports that the Secretary will talk with Egyptian officials during this trip.
Blinken is due to meet Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and hold a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty but will not be in Israel for the duration of the trip. US officials say unofficially that they do not expect any progress to be made in the discussions in Cairo on Wednesday but that Blinken's visit will continue to pressure an agreement.
Blinken's visit comes in the wake of massive bombings in Lebanon
On the eve of Blinken's visit, a series of explosions on Tuesday ripped through Lebanese territory, killing nine people and injuring some 2 800 others, using pagers used by Hezbollah members. The group blamed Israel for the explosions.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the United States, a close ally of Israel and a major supplier of arms to the country, "had no prior knowledge of this incident" and "had no involvement in it".
Israel has only recently announced that it is expanding the scope of the war it provoked on 7 October. "It is now planning to fight Hezbollah on its border with Lebanon.
The war continues to claim victims: even humanitarian aid is being targeted
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Tuesday that Israeli tanks fired on a humanitarian convoy over the weekend that was authorized to return from war-torn northern Gaza.
"Last Saturday, while returning from a mission in northern Gaza and after passing through a checkpoint on the coastal road, a WHO-led convoy was confronted by two Israeli tanks," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on the social network X.
"The tanks fired several shots near the convoy. Fortunately, no one was hurt," he said. - This is unacceptable".
Just a week before this incident, the United Nations reported that a convoy of workers involved in the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza had been intercepted at gunpoint at an Israeli army checkpoint.
The clash, which came at a time when the mass polio vaccination campaign is underway in Palestine for the first time in 25 years, was marked by gunshots and a bulldozer ramming the convoy, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarricius said last week.
In his words, "This incident and the behavior of the Israeli forces involved endangered the lives of our staff."
"Israeli forces must take measures to protect and facilitate the work of humanitarian personnel."
In his post, Tedros G. congratulated Saturday's convoy teams for reaching Gaza's largest hospital in el-Shifa "despite the security risks" and delivering supplies to the emergency medical unit.
"Aid was also delivered to Palestinian Red Cross facilities in the north, including supplies to treat non-communicable diseases," he wrote.
"In addition, the teams assisted in the rotation of emergency medical personnel."
The head of the United Nations health agency congratulated the "tireless humanitarian workers in Gaza" who, "despite the extreme danger and life-threatening conditions... ... continue to deliver essential aid".
He said in his post that they are "the last hope for the survival of two million people in desperate need of aid."
"The least they deserve for their work is safety. The conflict mitigation mechanism must be respected. Ceasefire!"
Tens of thousands of civilians have already died in the conflict
According to official Israeli figures, based on the AFP news agency's count, 1 205 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack in southern Israel that provoked the Gaza war on 7 October.
In addition, 251 hostages were taken. 97 hostages are still in Gaza, according to the Israeli army, 33 of them dead.
According to the Ministry of Health of the Hamas-controlled Territory, at least 41 252 people have already been killed in the Israeli retaliatory military operation in Gaza, both civilians and militants.
Based on ELTA reports
