Blinken presses Israel on Gaza’s postwar future as Lebanon border clashes escalate

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in Tel Aviv and, after meeting with top leaders Tuesday, said Israel must do more to lessen the Gaza war’s toll on civilians and said Washington rejects any proposal for settling Palestinians outside the territory.

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days as the Israeli offensive’s focus shifts to the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in the central Gaza. The entire 2.3 million population is also in a food crisis, with 576,000 people at catastrophic or starvation levels.

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least four members of the militant group Hezbollah members, a day after a similar attack killed a commander with the militant Hezbollah group. Israel claimed it killed Ali Hussein Barji, who it said was in charge of Hezbollah’s drones in the south, but a Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the group’s regulations, said he was only a fighter.

Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into southern Israel triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people, and militants took some 250 others hostage. Israel’s air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 23,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Currently:

— Hezbollah launches drone strike on northern Israel base, Israeli military says there’s no damage.

— Blinken urges Israel to engage with region on postwar plans that include path to Palestinian state.

— Israeli strike kills an elite Hezbollah commander in the latest escalation linked to the war in Gaza.

— Former U.K. opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn will join South Africa’s delegation accusing Israel of genocide.

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL TO VOTE ON HOUTHI ATTACKS IN RED SEA

The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a vote Wednesday on a U.S.-proposed resolution that would condemn attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea area and demand an immediate halt.

The draft resolution, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, says at least two dozen Houthi attacks are impeding global commerce “and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.”

The resolution would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company that was seized on Nov. 19 along with its crew.

Without naming Iran, the Houthis’ main arms supplier, the draft to be voted on would condemn all arms dealings with the rebels, which violate Security Council sanctions.

It also “urges caution and restraint to avoid further escalation of the situation in the Red Sea and the broader region.” And it “encourages enhanced diplomatic efforts by all parties to that end, including continued support for dialogue and Yemen’s peace process under the U.N. auspices.”

AP