US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Friday to press for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into besieged Gaza, while Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City, the focus of Israel's campaign to crush the enclave's ruling Hamas group. On the northern border with Lebanon, tensions escalated ahead of a speech planned for later Friday by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the AP reports. He is making his first public comments since Hamas attacked Israel last month. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed ally of Hamas, attacked Israeli military positions in northern Israel with drones, mortar fire, and suicide drones, stoking fears the Israel-Hamas war could become a regional one.
The Israeli military said it retaliated with warplanes and helicopter gunships. Since the war began on Oct. 7, Hezbollah has taken calculated steps to keep Israel's military busy on the country's border with Lebanon but so far has done nothing of the extent that would ignite an all-out war. Blinken is making his third trip to Israel since the Hamas attack. This trip takes him to Tel Aviv and Amman, Jordan, and follows President Biden's suggestion for a humanitarian "pause" in the fighting. The aim would be to let in aid for Palestinians and let out more foreign nationals and wounded. Around 800 people left Gaza over the past two days.
Israel did not immediately respond to Biden's suggestion. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has previously ruled out a ceasefire, said Thursday: "We are advancing … Nothing will stop us." He vowed to destroy Hamas' rule in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu praised the military's "very impressive successes," the Times of Israel reports. Military officials said Israeli forces have now completely encircled Gaza City, a densely packed cluster of neighborhoods that Israel says is the center of Hamas' military infrastructure and includes a vast network of underground tunnels, bunkers, and command centers.
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Israeli forces are "fighting in a built-up, dense, complex area," said the military's chief of staff, Herzi Halevy. Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces were in "face to face" battles with militants, calling in airstrikes and shelling when needed. He said they were inflicting heavy losses on Hamas fighters and destroying their infrastructure with engineering equipment. Video released by Israel on Friday showed Israeli troops engaging in small arms fire and driving bulldozers, tanks, and other armored vehicles into urban areas. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)
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