U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv on Oct. 16.Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press
The U.S. government is scrambling in a bid to prevent Israel’s war with Hamas from expanding into a regional conflict, and vowing to help mitigate the escalating humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Israel for another round of meetings on Monday following a frantic tour around the Middle East in which he sat down with seven Arab leaders. His aim was to seek help ensuring Israel’s enemies, including Iran, Syria and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, do not get involved in the war.
“What I’ve heard from virtually every partner was a determination, a shared view, that we have to do everything possible to make sure this doesn’t spread to other places,” Mr. Blinken told reporters in Cairo.
Israel is girding for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip this week, aimed at destroying Hamas for its deadly rampage through southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel has been hitting the enclave with air strikes, reducing city blocks to rubble, and blockading food, fuel, water and electricity. Gaza’s 2.3 million people can’t leave.
Iran-backed Hezbollah on Sunday fired missiles at Israeli army barracks and attacked a village in the country’s north, while Israel responded with artillery fire. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in Beirut that Hezbollah would cause “a huge earthquake” if Israel does not pull back from Gaza.
Such moves have raised fears of a second front opening up in the war, which both the U.S. and Israel are hoping to avoid.
Smoke rises from an Israeli army position which was attacked by Hezbollah fighters near Alma al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel, south Lebanon, on Oct. 15.Hussein Malla/The Associated Press
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National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the U.S. has spoken with Iran through back channels to press the country not to intervene in the war. During his tour, Mr. Blinken visited Qatar, the U.S.-allied Gulf state where some of Hamas’s leadership are based. His aim was also to enlist the country’s help getting Hamas’s hostages, including as many as 15 U.S. citizens, released.
In a series of TV appearances, Mr. Sullivan said the administration will ask Congress for a multibillion-dollar military aid package for both Israel and Ukraine, in addition to shipments of ammunition and missiles already sent last week.
He also announced the appointment of David Satterfield, a former ambassador to Turkey and Lebanon, to co-ordinate humanitarian relief to Gaza. Mr. Sullivan said the U.S. is not “making requests or demands of Israel with respect to its military operations” but said “civilians should have a real opportunity to get to safety.”
President Joe Biden endorsed Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas but cautioned his ally against reoccupying Gaza. “Yes, I do,” Mr. Biden said when asked if he thought Hamas should be completely eliminated, in a 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday. But he said, “There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state” and “it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again.” The comments represented the first time Mr. Biden has publicly tried to rein in his ally.
Palestinians collect water from a water tap amid drinking water shortages, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 15.Fatima Shbair/The Associated Press
How the U.S. would help Gaza remained unclear. The White House has previously said it was looking to open humanitarian corridors out of the besieged territory, such as through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. But so far, the U.S. has been unable to even get its own citizens, estimated to number about 500, out of the enclave.
In his meeting with Mr. Blinken, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said Israel’s reprisals in Gaza have “overextended the right to self-defence” and amount to “collective punishment.”
Aml Wafi, a Palestinian living in Egypt, said she has lost contact with her family in Gaza – her mother, two sisters and nephew. They live in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, across from the Red Crescent’s Al-Quds hospital. Many of her friends have had their homes destroyed and family members killed.
“They ran out of water completely. Some of them are homeless, with no shelters. Some of them sheltered in UN schools, but they got bombed,” she told The Globe and Mail. “There is no safe place. Everyone is a target.”
Israeli soldiers patrol a border fence gate with the Gaza Strip on Oct. 15.YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Ms. Wafi, a 23-year-old dentistry student, had just returned to Cairo from a visit in Gaza four days before Hamas’s attack. Born and raised in the enclave, she recounted living through previous bombings: Her entire family would gather in the hallway of their building or at a neighbour’s apartment and pray through the night while trying to keep the children away from the windows.
“I wish I was there now because it’s so terrifying. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep properly. I’m stressed all the time, flashbacks are crossing through my mind,” she said. “What I want is to be there with them. Even if it’s not safe, at least we’d be together.”
With a report from Associated Press