Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Tuesday that his nation’s military needs to “finish the war” with Hamas, in order to secure the return of Israeli hostages and achieve the “security of our people.”
Speaking to Blinken in Tel Aviv, Katz also said that civilians who had been evacuated from towns in northern Israel due to cross-border fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon could not yet return home.
“So we have to find a way. A diplomatic way to put a lot of pressure on Iran and Hezbollah to withdraw them as far as we can,” he said, adding: “The thing is to put a lot of pressure now to prevent war tomorrow.”
Katz said it was important to do everything possible to prevent a war with Hezbollah, which he said would “destroy Lebanon.”
Blinken said he had arrived in Israel at "an incredibly challenging time” after making stops in countries around the Middle East. He said he looked forward to sharing some of the opinions he had heard from other countries in the region.
“I know your own efforts over many years to build much greater connectivity and integration in the Middle East and I think there are actually real opportunities there but we have to get through this very challenging moment and ensure that October 7 can never happen again,” Blinken said.