Amid growing concerns that the Israel-Hamas war is escalating into a broader regional crisis, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Saturday spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the fourth time in just three months. He began an emergency visit to the Middle East.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the two men discussed strategies to contain the conflict in Gaza and other ways to promote “lasting regional peace.” NBC News.
Turkey is a NATO member and important ally of the United States, but Erdogan has criticized Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks.
Miller said that during their meeting, Blinken emphasized the need to “prevent the escalation of the conflict, secure the release of hostages, increase humanitarian assistance, and reduce civilian casualties,” as well as the need for a “Palestinian state.” He also emphasized gender.
After meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Blinken departed Turkey and headed to Crete. It is scheduled Meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
He will also make stops in Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the West Bank and Egypt as he seeks diplomatic solutions to the growing violence in the Middle East.
But despite international efforts, signs of escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hamas were clear on Saturday morning when Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.
The terrorist group claimed to have fired 62 rockets, hitting an Israeli observation post on Mount Meron and two Israeli military bases near the Israel-Lebanon border.
However, the Israeli military announced that 40 rockets had been fired, without mentioning that the Meron area had been attacked.
The rocket attack was carried out by Israelis when Hezbollah leader Saeed Hassan Nasrallah was killed by Hamas political leader Saleh al-Arouri, who is said to have masterminded the October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war. This came a day after calling on the organization to take revenge for what had been done to it. Airstrike in Beirut on Tuesday.
Hours after the Hezbollah attack, Israel's Channel 12 released footage that appeared to show an Israeli military helicopter shooting down a drone launched by the terrorist group.
“Here's how a combat helicopter shot down a Hezbollah drone. It was a day of fighting in the north with a heavy barrage of fire on Miron and multiple shots on the Galilee.” Outlet described by X.
Claims that the drone had been shot down could not be immediately confirmed.
Residents of northern Israel and southern Lebanon also spotted the Israeli Air Force's large missile-detecting balloons “Elevated Sensors,'' or “Skydew,'' installed along the border.
The system is not operational and is facing several obstacles in development. The Times of Israel reported.
The system was airlifted on Saturday after receiving parts shipped from the United States, the agency added, citing local reports.
Also on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces released new footage of the elite Egoz commandos in southern Gaza, saying the troops battled Hamas militants at a school and raided the home of the commander of the terrorist group's Eastern Khan Yunis battalion.
“In the town of Bani Suheila, on the outskirts of Khan Yunis, Egoz forces attacked a school where Hamas operatives had barricaded themselves,” Israel's Emmanuel Fabian Times reported. I wrote to X with the video The Egos squad shoots through blackboards and other school materials.
“The Israel Defense Forces announced that its forces killed three gunmen during the fighting inside the school. On their bodies, the army found an RPG and a “large amount of intelligence information'' about Hamas's Khan Yunis Brigades, it said. Fabian added.
Israel Defense Forces forces in the Gaza Strip also raided civilian housing “that was being used as terrorist infrastructure for Hamas,” the military wrote in X.
“Our special forces have discovered Hamas weapons, grenades, magazines and vests,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, along with images of piles of firearms and ammunition.
“Some of the weapons and combat materials were kept in the bedroom next to dolls and children's games, some of which promoted hatred and violence against Israel.” He added that he was referring to a children's puzzle that appeared to have been made.
The troubling, colorful children's toy depicted a child wearing a white robe, holding a Palestinian flag and firing a machine gun, as well as armed people on a boat approaching Israel from the sea.
Above the puzzle was a caption written in English and Arabic: “Liberate Palestine.”
As the war between Israel and Hamas approaches its 100th day, the mother of an Israeli man found dead in Hamas' October 7 attack on Friday accused the Israeli state of failing to prevent and respond to the massacre. did.
Yael Adal wrote on Facebook on Saturday. She said her son, Tamir Adal, 38, had died in the attack, which he said had “minimized the scale of the failure.”
“The message should be different. Tamir was seriously injured defending his family and community in the absence of settlement protection,” Yael lamented.
“Mr. Tamir was injured and kidnapped alive. Mr. Tamir was killed because he did not receive immediate medical treatment,” she added.
“This is the default! It is convenient for anyone to write about the October 7th murder as if it was a momentary event that Tamir did not feel, and he will not be saved. If the nation If the state had functioned, Tamils would have been saved. If the state had functioned, these failures would not have happened,'' said the grieving mother.
with post wire
