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US urges Israel's defense minister to avoid Lebanon escalation

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Agence France-Presse

<p>WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel during a Monday meeting with its defense minister to avoid further escalation in Lebanon as they discussed efforts to reach a deal to free hostages in Gaza.</p><p>Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was on a visit to Washington seeking to reaffirm the value of ties with Israel&#x27;s top ally, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly chastised the United States for what he said was a delay in weapons deliveries.</p><p>In a two-hour meeting with Gallant at the State Department, Blinken discussed indirect diplomacy between Israel and Hamas on an agreement that &quot;secures the release of all hostages and alleviates the suffering of the Palestinian people,&quot; State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.</p><p>Blinken also &quot;underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows both Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes,&quot; Miller said in a statement.</p><p>Tensions have been rising with growing exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon&#x27;s Iranian-backed militant movement Hezbollah.</p><p>Netanyahu has said Israeli forces are winding up the most intense part of the Gaza war and will redeploy to the northern border, although he cast the move as defensive.</p><p>Gallant also met CIA chief Bill Burns, the key US pointman in negotiations to free hostages from Hamas.</p><p>&quot;I would like to emphasize that it is Israel&#x27;s primary commitment to return the hostages, with no exception, to their families and homes,&quot; Gallant said before starting his meetings.</p><p>&quot;We will continue to make every possible effort to bring them home,&quot; he said.</p><p>The minister made no further comment as he left the meeting with Blinken, as a few dozen protesters outside the State Department chanted to call him a &quot;war criminal.&quot;</p><div><a href="http://Fighting in Gaza&#x27;s Rafah as tensions soar on Israel-Lebanon border">RELATED: Fighting in Gaza&#x27;s Rafah as tensions soar on Israel-Lebanon border</a></div><div><strong>Arms shipment dispute</strong></div><p>US President Joe Biden on May 31 laid out a plan for a ceasefire in Gaza and release of hostages.</p><p>Hamas, which launched the conflict with its October 7 attack on Israel, has come back with its own demands, and the United States hopes the gaps can be bridged.</p><p>Netanyahu, who has faced major protests calling for him to accept the deal, in recent days has annoyed the Biden administration by accusing Washington of cutting back arms and ammunition deliveries.</p><p>Gallant took a different tack, saying: &quot;The alliance between Israel and the United States, led by the US over many years, is extremely important.&quot;</p><p>Other than Israel&#x27;s own military, &quot;our ties with the US are the most important element for our future from a security perspective,&quot; he said.</p><p>Biden, who has faced criticism from parts of his own base over his support for Israel, held back a shipment that included heavy 2,000-pound bombs.</p><p>Netanyahu — who has close relations with Biden&#x27;s rivals in the Republican Party — told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that there was a &quot;dramatic drop in the supply&quot; of US weapons around four months ago.</p><p>Asked about his latest remark, Miller told reporters, &quot;I don&#x27;t understand what that comment meant at all.&quot;</p><p>&quot;We have paused one shipment of high-payload munitions. That shipment remains on pause,&quot; Miller told reporters.</p><p>&quot;There are other weapons that we continue to provide Israel, as we have done going back years and years, because we are committed to Israel&#x27;s security. There has been no change in that,&quot; Miller said.</p><p>Miller said the United States would also press Israel to work on longer-term arrangements after the end of the fighting.</p><p>&quot;We don&#x27;t want to see in Rafah what we&#x27;ve seen in Gaza City and what we&#x27;ve seen in Khan Yunis, which is the end of major combat operations and then the beginning of Hamas reasserting control,&quot; he said, referring to two other major cities targeted by Israel earlier in the war.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/6/19/fighting-in-gaza-s-rafah-as-tensions-soar-on-israel-lebanon-border-132">READ: Fighting in Gaza&#x27;s Rafah as tensions soar on Israel-Lebanon border</a></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/somu0LiI2nM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel during a Monday meeting with its defense minister to avoid further escalation in Lebanon as they discussed efforts to reach a deal to free hostages in Gaza.</p>

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel during a Monday meeting with its defense minister to avoid further escalation in Lebanon as they discussed efforts to reach a deal to free hostages in Gaza.