US seeking ceasefire deal

7/10/2024 5:46

        The U.S. government,
        reacting to Israel's heavy bombardment in Lebanon, said on
        Sunday that military pressure can enable diplomacy but can also
        lead to miscalculations.
        
        Israeli air attacks battered Beirut's southern suburbs
        overnight and early on Sunday while dozens were killed
        separately in Gaza as the Israeli army launched a new incursion
        in the north.
        
        The region has been on edge awaiting Israel's response
        to a missile attack from Iran last week that Tehran carried out
        in retaliation for Israel's escalations in Lebanon. The Iranian
        attack ultimately killed no one in Israel and Washington called
        it ineffective.
        
        "Military pressure can at times enable diplomacy. Of course,
        military pressure can also lead to miscalculation. It can lead
        to unintended consequences," a U.S. State Department
        spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
        
        Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told CNN that Israel was
        coordinating its response to Iran with the United States but
        would make its own independent decisions.
        
        "Everything is on the table," CNN quoted him as saying.
        
        The United States said it supports Israel going after
        extremist targets in Lebanon like Iran-backed Hezbollah
        militants but does not want the targeting of civilians or
        civilian infrastructure.
        
        "We're in conversations with Israel about all these factors
        now. We have been clear and consistent that further escalation
        is in no one's interest," the spokesperson added. "Every
        civilian casualty is one too many."
        
        Washington's occasional condemnation of ally Israel over
        civilian death tolls in Gaza and Lebanon has mostly been verbal,
        with no substantive change in policy even as the United States
        has seen months of protests demanding an arms embargo.
        
        Washington's goal is to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon to
        provide space for diplomacy, the State Department added.
        
        The United States and France put
        
        forward a 21-day ceasefire proposal
        
        for the Israel-Lebanon border in late September. Washington
        and its allies also expressed support for a
        
        ceasefire in Gaza
        
        . However, efforts on both fronts have failed thus far.
        
        Israel has since escalated its military campaign in
        Lebanon which in recent days has killed hundreds, wounded
        thousands and displaced over 1 million people. Israel says it is
        targeting Hezbollah.
        
        French President Emmanuel Macron said over the weekend that
        shipments of arms to Israel should be stopped. Israel said such
        a step will serve the purposes of Iran.
        
        A Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian
        Islamist group Hamas has not been reached due to gaps in
        exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners as well
        as Israel's demand that it maintain presence in a corridor on
        the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt.
        
        The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian
        conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked
        Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according
        to Israeli tallies.
        
        Israel's subsequent military assault on the Hamas-governed
        enclave has killed almost 42,000 Palestinians, according to the
        local health ministry, while displacing nearly the entire
        population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading
        to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.