 "Western allies seek rapid end to war in Gaza, Blinken holds talks")
By Simon Lewis & Nidal al-Mughrabi
The United States and its allies in the Group of Seven are seeking a quick way out of the military phase of the Gaza conflict, Italy said on Monday, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his EU and German counterparts toured the region.
Blinken was holding talks on Gaza in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday before heading on to Israel, aiming to kick start concerted peace efforts that he says are needed to avoid a wider conflagration.
He began a five-day Middle East diplomatic effort in Jordan and Qatar on Sunday, his fourth visit to the region since deadly October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas militants in Gaza sparked a massive Israeli assault that shows no signs of ending.
Other Iranian-backed militant groups have weighed in, attacking Israeli forces on the border with Lebanon, US troops in Iraq and Syria and commercial ships in the Red Sea. Israel has also cracked down on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock was in Israel on Monday and the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell was in Lebanon in a sign of international concern.
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“G7 countries are working with the Israeli government to find a rapid way out of the military phase,” the Italian Foreign Ministry quoted minister Antonio Tajani as saying as Italy began its one-year presidency of the Group of Seven.
An Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters, the latest in daily clashes across Israel’s northern border.
Baerbock told Israel it had a duty to protect Palestinians in the West Bank after Blinken sounded the wider alarm in Doha on Sunday. “This is a conflict that could easily metastasize,” Blinken said before heading to Abu Dhabi.
Israel outlined a more focused approach to its war in Gaza ahead of the visit but Palestinian health officials say it is still killing scores of people every day, reporting 249 dead in the past 24 hours.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country was both determined to end Hamas rule of the enclave and deter other potential Iran-backed adversaries like Hezbollah.
Moreover, Israel killed a Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon, AFP reported, amid rising concerns the war with Hamas will escalate into a wider Middle Eastern conflict. The senior member of the Iran-backed group was killed by a strike on his car.