By Athena Papakosta

The Secretary of State of the United States arrived in Israel yesterday, Tuesday, Anthony Blinkenwith the aim of reinvigorating ceasefire efforts.

During his meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin NetanyahuMr. Blinken urged him to take advantage of the killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinuar by the Israeli armed forces almost a week ago, in order to ensure the release of the hostages and an end to the war in the Gaza Strip.

And according to a representative of the State Department, the American Secretary of State, during their meeting – which lasted 2.5 hours and was held in Jerusalem – also underlined the need for Israel to strengthen humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.

US President Joe Biden is asking his secretary of state – on his 11th visit to the region in a year – to press further for progress, at a time when neither Israel nor Hamas have given any sign of “willingness” to move from their positions to date and negotiations between them have been frozen almost since the end of August.

The Egyptian proposal and Hochstein

According to what the news site reported AxiosEgypt has tabled a proposal proposing, in the first phase, a “collapsed” cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, with the goal of conducting a new round of negotiations to reach a broader agreement. For its part, Israel, according to the American network NBC News, has not rejected the proposal, nor does it support it.

At the same time, Washington is pushing for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Amid the ongoing diplomatic fever, United States Special Envoy Amos Hochstein is in Lebanon to open talks with officials in Beirut.

We are two weeks before the American elections, with the war raging in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, while the prospect of a wider and, consequently, more nightmarish flare-up with Iran is visible. The entire region has been living for 22 days with the agony of the Israeli leadership’s response to Iran’s retaliation with the approximately 180 ballistic missiles against Israel on October 1.

The unauthorized leak of United States documents already revealed that Israel’s retaliatory strike against Iran is imminent, and for the past 15 days, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghtsi, has engaged in a diplomatic “demarcation” weighing friends and enemies. In fact, as he said yesterday, Tuesday, from Kuwait, the Arab states assure Tehran – after its threats against them – that they will not allow either their territories or their airspace to be used by Israel during his attack on Iran.

According to the Al-Monitor news site, the United States and Israel have reached a tacit agreement on retaliation. According to the publication, Israel agreed not to target Iran’s energy and nuclear infrastructure in exchange for arms, and in particular the lifting of the suspension of ammunition shipments to Israel and faster supplies to Tel Aviv.

So far, neither Washington nor Israel have commented on the report while Blinken’s trip to the region continues.

After Israel, the visits of the head of American diplomacy to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates follow. His visit to Jordan was cut short with the US Secretary of State speaking by phone with his Jordanian counterpart, who left for the French capital and the Lebanon summit.