US and Israeli negotiators will gather in Doha to prepare for renewed talks on a Gaza ceasefire deal.
The United States does not want a protracted Israeli campaign in Lebanon, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday, as efforts got under way to hold fresh talks over a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.
US and Israeli negotiators will gather in Doha to prepare for renewed talks on a Gaza ceasefire deal which would also entail release of hostages in the Palestinian enclave, Qatar and Washington said. Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan told Lebanese pro-Iranian TV channel Al Mayadeen there was no change in the group’s position. “The hostages held by the resistance will only return by stopping the aggression and completely withdrawing,” Hamdan said.Blinken, who held talks with Qatar’s prime minister, has been on his first trip to the region since, a mastermind of the group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered conflict across the Middle East.
Blinken said the US was working on a diplomatic deal which would allow civilians on both sides on the border to return to their homes.“In the north , there’s a possibility of reaching a sharp conclusion. We thoroughly dismantled Hezbollah’s senior chain of command,” Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in a video statement.
The Lebanese army’s deployment into the south, where Hezbollah holds sway, is seen as vital to any diplomatic resolution to the war.In Paris, a conference convened by France raised $US200 million for the Lebanese military and $US800 million in humanitarian aid. Hezbollah opened fire on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with its Palestinian allies in Gaza. Israel’s Gaza offensive has killed nearly 43,000 people, according to Gaza authorities, and laid waste to the territory. The Hamas-led attack which sparked it killed 1200 people and resulted in another 250 being abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
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