US Secretary Of State Blinken Urges All Parties In The Middle East To Stop Taking Escalative Action

JAKARTA - United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged all parties in the Middle East not to take "escalative measures", a day afterHamaspolitical leader Ismail Haniyehwas killed in Tehran.

"Currently, the path this region is taking is towards more conflict, more violence, more suffering, more insecurity. And it is very important for us to break this cycle. And it starts with a ceasefire," Foreign Minister Blinken said. August 1.

"To achieve this, all parties must stop taking escalation measures," he continued.

Foreign Minister Blinken said he could not predict the effects of "one event against what would happen next," but "a ceasefire to end the conflict in Gaza in order to create calm in the northern region, between Israel and Lebanon" is in the interests of all parties.

All parties need to find "a reason to reach an agreement, not to find excuses to postpone or reject the deal," he said.

Foreign Minister Blinken said he had spoken with his colleagues across the region over the past 24 hours and they were all focused on reaching a ceasefire.

He also expressed his belief that an agreement could still be reached because it is "very important for us to do so."

"It is very important for all parties to make the right choices in the next few days," he added.

Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Wednesday evening "days full of challenges are coming" for Israel as it prepares for attacks from Iran and its regional proxies, following the assassination of Hezbollah's supreme military commander in Beirut and Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

"We are ready to face every scenario," he promised, according to The Times of Israel.

Pointing to the killings in Beirut, an attack on military winger Hamas leader Muhammad Deif a few weeks ago and against Houthi-controlled Hodeida port in Yemen, PM Netanyahu said Israel had landed a "severe blow" to Iran and its main proxies.

Most recently, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that its airstrike on July 13 had killed Hamas military wing commander, Izzuddin al-Qassam Muhammad Deif Brigade.