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Blinken stressed the need for Israel to do more to help increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and said Israel should “capitalise” on Sinwar’s death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages there. Netanyahu’s office called his meeting with Blinken, which lasted more than two hours, “friendly and productive.”
Blinken landed hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in populated areas and at its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries.
Hospitals in Lebanon fear being targeted by Israel
An Israeli airstrike late Monday in Beirut night destroyed several buildings across the street from the country’s largest public hospital, killing 18 people and wounding at least 60 others. The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah target, without elaborating, and said that it hadn’t targeted the hospital itself.
Associated Press reporters visited the Rafik Hariri University Hospital on Tuesday. They saw broken windows in the hospital’s pharmacy and dialysis centre, which was full of patients at the time.
Staff at another Beirut hospital feared it would be targeted after Israel alleged that Hezbollah had stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in its basement, without providing evidence.
The director of the Sahel General Hospital denied the allegations and invited journalists to visit the hospital and its two underground floors. Reporters saw no sign of militants or anything out of the ordinary.
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The few remaining patients had been evacuated after the Israeli military’s announcement the night before. The rest had left earlier because of repeated airstrikes in the surrounding neighborhood.
“We have been living in terror for the last 24 hours,” hospital director Mazen Alame said. “There is nothing under the hospital.”
Many in Lebanon fear Israel could target its hospitals in the same way it has raided medical facilities across Gaza. The Israeli military has accused Hamas and other militants of using hospitals for military purposes, allegations denied by medical staff.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that 63 people have been killed over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,546.
Blinken trying to restart efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza
During his meeting with Netanyahu, Blinken underscored the need for a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, according to US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. The need for more aid in Gaza is something Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear in a letter to Israeli officials last week.
Miller said Blinken also stressed the importance of ending the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated earlier this month when Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
The State Department said ahead of Blinken’s visit that he would focus on ending the war in Gaza, securing the release of hostages held by Hamas and alleviating the suffering of Palestinian civilians.
AP
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