'Time to end the war', Blinken tells Israel as aid groups condemn U.S. ruling

IN BRIEF

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel "has accomplished the goals that it set for itself" by taking out Hamas's leadership and ensuring the group is unable to launch another massive attack. READ MORE BELOW

• Aid agencies have condemned the Biden administration's announcement that Israel is not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and is therefore not violating U.S. law. READ MORE BELOW

• Lebanon is awaiting concrete ceasefire proposals, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was quoted as saying, after a senior U.S. official said he saw "a shot" at a truce soon in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. READ MORE BELOW

• Israeli military strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, as Israeli forces deepened their incursion into Beit Hanoun town in the north, forcing most remaining residents to leave. READ MORE BELOW

• At least 20 people were killed and 13 injured in Israeli air strikes in the Mount Lebanon area, the Lebanese health ministry said.

• U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield stressed at the Security Council that "there must be no forcible displacement, nor policy of starvation in Gaza" by Israel.

• The Israeli military struck the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut for a second consecutive day, after pounding the area with airstrikes on Tuesday.

• The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, an ally of Hamas, released a video of a man identifying himself as an Israeli hostage by the name of Sasha Trupanov, held in Gaza since the October 7 attack on Israel.

• Russia has asked Israel to avoid launching aerial strikes as part of its war against Lebanon's Hezbollah near one of Moscow's bases in Syria, a top official said Wednesday.

IN DETAIL

'Time to end the war' says Blinken

"This should be a time to end the war" was the stark message delivered to Israel by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels. 

Blinken said Israel "has accomplished the goals that it set for itself" by taking out Hamas's leadership and ensuring the group is unable to launch another massive attack.

Hamas was not engaging in talks to bring an end to the war, but a plan would still be needed for the future of Gaza, something Blinken has spent months discussing with regional leaders.

"We also need to make sure we have a plan for what follows," he said, "so that if Israel decides to end the war and we find a way to get the hostages out, we also have a clear plan so that Israel can get out of Gaza and we make sure that Hamas is not going back in."

Blinken also called for Israel to do more to get relief to Gaza, including holding extended pauses of fighting.

Aid groups angered by U.S. ruling

Eight international aid groups, including Oxfam and Save the Children, attacked the U.S. ruling that Israel is not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and is therefore not violating U.S. law.

The State Department's announcement on Tuesday came as Washington acknowledged the humanitarian situation remained dire in the Palestinian enclave.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in an October 13 letter gave their Israeli counterparts a list of specific steps that Israel needed to make within 30 days to address the worsening situation in Gaza. Failure to do so may have possible consequences on U.S. military aid to Israel, they said in the letter.

On Tuesday, as the deadline mentioned in the letter expired, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that Israel had taken steps to address the demands and that Washington would continue to assess the situation.

Patel said these steps included reopening the Erez crossing, waiving certain customs requirements, and opening additional delivery routes within Gaza.

"We've seen some progress being made. We would like to see some more changes happen. We believe that had it not been for U.S. intervention, these changes may not have ever taken place," Patel said, adding that Washington would continue to assess Israel's compliance with U.S. law.

The Palestinian Hamas militant movement that rules Gaza criticized the Biden administration's assertion that Israel had taken measures to improve the humanitarian situation in the enclave.

The assessment was "an affirmation of President Biden's complete partnership in the brutal genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip," Hamas said.

Biden, whose term ends soon, has offered strong backing to Israel since Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

Lebanon awaits ceasefire 'shot'

Lebanon is awaiting concrete ceasefire proposals, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was quoted as saying on Wednesday, after a senior U.S. official said he saw "a shot" at a truce soon in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military struck the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut for a second consecutive day, after pounding the area with airstrikes on Tuesday. Smoke rose over Beirut.

Israel launched a major air and ground offensive against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in late September after nearly a year of cross-border conflict in parallel with the Gaza war.

White House envoy Amos Hochstein told Axios that he thinks "there is a shot" at a truce in Lebanon soon. "I am hopeful we can get it."

His comments point to a last-ditch bid by the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to secure a Lebanon ceasefire as diplomacy to end the Gaza war appears adrift, with mediator Qatar having suspended its role.

An Israeli airstrike in the early hours of Wednesday also killed six people in Aaramoun, in the mountains some 15 km (10 miles) south of Beirut, Lebanon's health ministry said.

At least 20 people were killed and 13 injured in Israeli air strikes in the Mount Lebanon area on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said.

14 killed in Gaza

Israeli military strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as Israeli forces deepened their incursion into Beit Hanoun town in the north, forcing most remaining residents to leave.

Residents said Israeli forces besieged shelters housing displaced families and the remaining population, which some estimated at a few thousand, ordering them to head south through a checkpoint separating two towns and a refugee camp in the north from Gaza City.

Men were held for questioning, while women and children were allowed to continue towards Gaza City, residents and Palestinian medics said.