The United States is not hopeful of a breakthrough in Middle East ceasefire talks before the countryʼs presidential election, although long-deadlocked talks on the release of hostages and a Gaza ceasefire are set to resume in the coming days.
Sources told CNN about this.
In private conversations, some US officials acknowledge that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is well-acquainted with and monitors the intricacies of the U.S. presidential election and the potential implications for the US foreign policy, is in no rush to make any major decisions about the future conflict in Gaza until will not know who will be his next colleague in Washington.
In the first days after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, advisers to US President Joe Biden expressed cautious optimism that ceasefire talks could resume, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made his 11th trip to the region, including a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Netanyahu.
But at the time, Netanyahu was asking former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, for help. Trump said during the rally that Netanyahu had called him at least twice in recent days.
The situation in the Middle East
The new escalation of the war has been ongoing since October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched a massive missile attack on the southern and central regions of Israel, invaded the countryʼs territory and killed 1 195 civilians, and took more than 250 hostages and took them to Gaza. Some of them were released, and some have already died. In response, Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip.
In September 2024, the situation between Israel and Hezbollah also escalated. On September 17, hundreds of pagers of members of the Iranian-backed Lebanese group exploded in Lebanon. During the day, the explosions were repeated — walkie-talkies and radio receivers were detonated. The Washington Post writes that Israel invented the "pager operation" back in 2022. Before that, IDF had been listening to militants for 9 years.
After a series of explosions, the Ministry of Defense of Israel declared the transfer of the main military effort to the north, where the country borders Lebanon. The head of the department Yoav Gallant said that a "new phase" of the war was beginning.
On September 30, it became known that Tel Aviv launched a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since then, Israel has eliminated the previous leader of Hamas Ismail Haniya, his successor Yahya Sinwar, and the successor of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hashim Safi al-Din.
In response to the death of Haniya and Nasrallah, Iran fired hundreds of missiles at Israel on October 1. On October 26, Israel struck military facilities in Iran.
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