Blinken appealed to Israel during the meeting with his defense minister to avoid further escalation in Lebanon.
Washington:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken appealed to Israel during a meeting on Monday with its defense minister to avoid further escalation in Lebanon as they discussed efforts to reach a deal to release hostages in Gaza.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited Washington to reaffirm the value of ties with key ally Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly criticized the United States for what he said was a delay in arms deliveries.
In a two-hour meeting with Gallant at the State Department, Blinken discussed indirect diplomacy between Israel and Hamas over a deal that “guarantees the release of all hostages and alleviates the suffering of the Palestinian people,” the Department spokesman said. of State, Matthew Miller.
Blinken also “stressed the importance of avoiding further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes,” Miller said in a statement.
Tensions have been rising with increasing exchanges of fire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant movement in Lebanon.
Netanyahu said Israeli forces were ending the most intense part of the war in Gaza and would be redeployed to the northern border, although he called the move defensive.
Gallant also met with CIA chief Bill Burns, the US lead in negotiations to free Hamas hostages.
“I would like to emphasize that it is Israel’s main commitment to return the hostages, without exception, to their families and homes,” Gallant said before beginning his meetings.
“We will continue to make every effort possible to bring them home,” he said.
The minister made no further comments as he left the meeting with Blinken, as a few dozen protesters outside the State Department chanted to call him a “war criminal.”
– Dispute over weapons shipment –
President Joe Biden presented a plan on May 31 for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.
Hamas, which launched the conflict with its attack on Israel on October 7, has returned with its own demands and the United States hopes the gaps can be closed.
Netanyahu, who has faced large protests calling on him to accept the deal, has angered the Biden administration in recent days by accusing Washington of reducing arms and ammunition deliveries.
Gallant took a different approach, saying: “The alliance between Israel and the United States, led by the US for many years, is extremely important.”
Aside from Israel’s own military, “our ties with the US are the most important element for our future from a security perspective,” he said.
Biden, who has faced criticism from parts of his own base for his support of Israel, withheld a shipment that included 2,000-pound heavy bombs.
Netanyahu – who has close ties with Biden’s rivals in the Republican Party – told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that there had been a “dramatic drop in the supply” of US weapons about four months ago.
Asked about his latest comment, Miller told reporters: “I don’t understand what that comment meant.”
“We have halted a shipment of high-charge munitions. That shipment remains suspended,” Miller told reporters.
“There are other weapons that we continue to supply to Israel, as we have done for years and years, because we are committed to Israel’s security. There has been no change in that,” Miller said.
Miller said the United States will also pressure Israel to work on long-term agreements after the fighting ends.
“We don’t want to see in Rafah what we saw in Gaza City and what we saw in Khan Yunis, which is the end of major combat operations and then the beginning of the reassertion of Hamas control,” he said, referring to two other major cities targeted by Israel at the start of the war.
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