Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday to discuss hopes for a cease-fire in Gaza in the wake of the killing of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week, even as the prospects for any truce appeared remote and the region tensely awaited an Israeli counterstrike on Iran.
Mr. Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday for his eighth visit since the Hamas-led attacks that triggered the war last year, and spent two and a half hours with Mr. Netanyahu, discussing the future of Gaza, Israel’s campaign in Lebanon, and the conflict with Iran. Mr. Blinken met later with Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, and Isaac Herzog, the country’s president.
Mr. Gallant told Mr. Blinken that Israeli strikes against Hezbollah would continue even after the ground invasion of Lebanon ended and “until it is possible to ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes, and the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces from southern Lebanon,” the minister’s office said in a statement.
With the prime minister, Mr. Blinken discussed “the need to capitalize” on Mr. Sinwar’s death “by securing the release of all hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza,” Matt Miller, the State Department spokesman, said in a statement. Mr. Netanyahu similarly said Mr. Sinwar’s death “may positively impact” those goals.
The leader of Hamas, Mr. Sinwar was killed last week by Israeli forces during a chance encounter in Rafah. He had been Israel’s No. 1 target after he plotted the attack last October that killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel, captured some 250 hostages and ignited the war in Gaza. After that, he had steered Hamas’s hard-line stance in truce talks.
Since Mr. Sinwar’s killing, Israeli officials and mediators have been tossing around new ideas for a proposal that would pause fighting with Hamas, free at least some of the dozens of hostages remaining in Gaza and bring home the bodies of captives who are presumed dead by the Israeli authorities.
The war has defied a yearlong diplomatic effort by the Biden administration — including numerous trips to the region by senior officials including Mr. Blinken — to clinch a deal to end it. Instead the violence has widened, escalating into a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and direct strikes by Iran against Israeli territory.
Mr. Netanyahu has vowed that the war in Gaza will not end until Hamas is destroyed. Hamas has vowed to continue fighting unless Israel agrees to a permanent cease-fire and the complete withdrawal of its forces from Gaza.
One possibility discussed by Israel’s security cabinet in recent days was a truce of roughly a week and a half, similar to the weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas last November that saw more than 100 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners freed, according two Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the news media.
But it is far from clear such a pause would be acceptable to Hamas, which has vowed to hold onto the remaining hostages until Israel ends its devastating offensive in Gaza. The group has also yet to announce a new leader to replace Mr. Sinwar, who dominated its decision-making.
Israeli forces have pressed on with their campaign in Gaza in an attempt to root out what they say is a renewed Hamas insurgency in Jabaliya, in the north. Little aid has entered northern Gaza through Israeli-controlled crossings since the beginning of the month, leading humanitarian officials to warn of a brewing crisis in the already-devastated zone.
Mr. Blinken “emphasized the need for Israel to take additional steps to increase and sustain the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and ensure that assistance reaches civilians throughout Gaza,” the State Department said, something the U.S. demanded of Israel in a letter earlier this month warning that U.S. military aid could be at risk.
But Mr. Netanyahu’s statement, by contrast, made no mention of any such commitment to fulfill those concerns.
The high-level American visit also came ahead of a much-anticipated Israeli attack on Iran, which fired roughly 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in early October. The barrage was a response to Israel’s assassination of senior officials aligned with Iran, including Mr. Sinwar’s predecessor.
The two leaders also talked about “the need to deter further regional aggression from Iran and its proxies,” Mr. Miller said. He did not provide any further details.
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