Blinken in Doha to discuss Gaza ceasefire with Qatari officials

Doha: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Doha on Thursday to meet with Qatari officials who have been key mediators for Hamas, as the US struggles to break the logjam of cease-fire negotiations between Israel and the militant group.

Blinken is on his 11th trip to the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese military said Thursday an Israeli strike killed three of its troops, including an officer, as they were evacuating wounded people in southern Lebanon, and French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will provide a 100 million-euro ($108 million) aid package to support Lebanon.

The Israel-Hamas war began after Hamas-led militants on Oct 7, 2023, blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between militants and civilians.

United Nations humanitarian officials are reporting “harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction” in northern Gaza as Israel wages another major operation there.

Israel is also fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the total toll over the past year is over 2,500 killed and 12,000 wounded.

The fighting in Lebanon has driven 1.2 million people from their homes, including more than 400,000 children, according to the United Nations children’s agency.

Hezbollah confirmed Wednesday that Hashem Safieddine, one of its top officials who had been widely expected to be the group’s next leader, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Over the past several weeks, Israeli strikes have killed much of Hezbollah’s top leadership.

At least one person was killed and others wounded in Israeli airstrikes targeting Syria’s Damascus and Homs countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syria’s state media reported.

Israeli warplanes targeted a government building near a military fuel station in the Kafr Sousa neighbourhood in Damascus, killing one person and injuring three others, according to the Syrian Observatory. The strike also triggered fires in the area.

Citing a military source, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the Israeli strikes were launched from the direction of the Golan Heights and from the direction of northern Lebanon.