The US Secretary of State also stressed that it is time to end the war in Gaza, since Israel has already achieved the two objectives it set for itself, and that humanitarian aid remains “insufficient.”
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The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, declared this Thursday that “good progress” had been made in talks on a possible ceasefire between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.
The United States is working “hard” to conclude an agreement that includes the withdrawal of the Lebanese Islamist movement, supported by Iran, from the border region with Israel, Blinken said in a press conference.
“Given my recent trip to the region and the talks that are taking place right now, we have made good progress towards this (a ceasefire),” he said.
“We still have work to do,” he added, calling for “a diplomatic solution, including through a ceasefire.”
[Já saiu o quinto e último episódio de “A Grande Provocadora”, o novo podcast Plus do Observador que conta a história de Vera Lagoa, a mulher que afrontou Salazar, desafiou os militares de Abril e ridicularizou os que se achavam donos do país. Pode ouvir aqui, no Observador, e também na Apple Podcasts, no Spotify e no Youtube. E pode ouvir aqui o primeiro episódio, aqui o segundo, aqui o terceiro e aqui o quarto episódio .]
White House envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk met this Thursday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to They seek a solution to more than a month of war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
According to Israeli media, citing government sources, the plan drawn up by the US envoys foresees a withdrawal of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, as well as the withdrawal of the Israeli army from that region, whose Control would fall to the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.
Lebanon would have the responsibility to prevent Hezbollah from rearming with imported weaponsand Israel would maintain its right to defend itself respecting international law, according to the document.
As Israel’s main military supporter, the United States did not call for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and supported Israel’s attacks against Hezbollah, while expressing concern about the fate of civilians.
Blinken once again urged the full implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701which ended the war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 and stipulated that only peacekeepers and the Lebanese army would be deployed in southern Lebanon.
At his side at the press conference, the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, for his part, considered that there is an “opportunity” for Lebanon.
“We are optimistic about the evolution of the situation in Lebanon in the not too distant future,” he said.
Regarding the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, after more than a year of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the US Secretary of State assured that his country is “closely monitoring” whether Israel complies with its obligations to allow that humanitarian aid arrives. enter that devastated territory and warned that is still “insufficient”.
“There has been real progress, but insufficient. “We work every day to ensure that Israel does what is necessary to get this aid to the people who need it in Gaza,” Blinken said.
Blinken and Austin warned on October 13, in a letter, to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States could stop its arms deliveries to Israel if it did not lift restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.
The United States sends a letter to Israel and demands an improvement in the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or cuts military support.
“Our teams are closely monitoring whether Israel is meeting its legal responsibilities regarding humanitarian aid distributiona”, declared the head of North American diplomacy.
The Secretary of State stated that “it is not enough to let trucks into Gaza”, but it is also vital that aid “can be distributed effectively” within the Gaza Strip.
Antony Blinken especially highlighted the urgency of holding a second round for the polio vaccination of hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza.
He also highlighted that It’s time to end the war in Gazasince Israel has already achieved the two objectives it set itself when it launched its offensive, more than a year ago: eliminating the Hamas leadership and those responsible for the October 7, 2023 attack against Israel.
“Both objectives have been achieved and attention must now focus on ending the war and, in the meantime, ensuring that people receive food, medicine and other necessary goods,” he defended.
Source: Observadora
