US secretary of state Antony Blinken urged Israel on Wednesday to focus on ending the war in the Middle East and bringing its hostages home from Gaza as the Israel Defense Forces continued their attacks in the Palestinian enclave and in southern Lebanon.
Blinken told reporters at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport that Israel had “achieved most of its strategic objectives” in Gaza, where according to Palestinian health officials more than 42,000 people have been killed in a year of bombing and street fighting.
Especially after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week in a firefight with Israeli troops in southern Gaza, Blinken said that a genuine opening existed to end the war, which was triggered by the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 2023 attack on the country.