More than 50 rockets were fired into the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights by Hezbollah on Wednesday after US secretary of state Antony Blinken wrapped up a Middle East tour which failed to secure a Gaza ceasefire.
The Lebanese Islamist group, an ally of Hamas, hit a number of private homes and injured at least one person.
Hezbollah said the assault was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon last night that killed one and injured 19.
As he wrapped up his ninth visit to the Middle East since the war began on October 7, Mr Blinken said that “time is of the essence” to secure a Gaza ceasefire.
He met with fellow mediators in Egypt and Qatar and on Monday had talks lasting three hours with the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. But he ended his visit without securing any major breakthrough on a ceasefire deal.
Mr Blinken said that because Israel has accepted a proposal to bridge gaps with the militant group, the focus turns to doing everything possible to “get Hamas on board” and ensure both sides agree to key details.
“Our message is simple. It’s clear and it’s urgent,” he said. “We need to get a ceasefire and hostage agreement over the finish line, and we need to do it now.”
Mr Netanyahu accepted Washington’s so-called “bridging proposal” aimed at trying to solve sticking points and bring Israel and Hamas closer to a deal, Mr Blinken said.
Hamas called the latest proposal a “reversal” of what it agreed to previously. It accused the US of accepting what it called “new conditions” from Israel. One of the main sticking points is understood to be Hamas’s demand for a “complete” withdrawal of Israeli troops from all parts of the Gaza strip, which Israel has reportedly rejected.
Mr Netanyahu was quoted by some US press as saying he may have convinced the secretary of state that Israel should keep troops in the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.
Mr Blinken denied the claims, saying: “The United States does not accept any long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel.
“More specifically, the agreement is very clear on the schedule and the locations of [Israel Defense Forces] withdrawals from Gaza, and Israel has agreed to that.”
Hamas is still believed to be holding around 110 hostages captured in the October 7 attack, which began the war.
The bodies of six hostages, including a British citizen, kidnapped from Israel by Hamas were recovered in Gaza, the Israeli military said yesterday.
Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Haim Perry were found in an overnight operation.
Mr Popplewell, 51, originally from Wakefield, was taken captive alongside his mother Channah Peri, 79, from their home in Nirim during the Hamas attack. Peri was released in November.
