US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in talks to capitalise on the killing of Hamas' leader by securing the release of the October 7 attack hostages and ending the war in Gaza.
After repeated abortive attempts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Blinken was making his 11th trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war erupted - and the last before a presidential election that could up-end US policy.
Blinken was also looking for ways to defuse an escalating spillover conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, where overnight at least 18 people were killed, including four children, and 60 injured by an Israeli air strike near Beirut's main state hospital.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (EPA PHOTO)
Blinken faced an uphill struggle on both fronts.
He spelled out US hopes that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar - blamed for triggering a year of devastating warfare by planning the deadly militant assault from Gaza on Israeli territory on October 7 last year - will provide a new opportunity for peace.
"The Secretary underscored the need to capitalise on Israel's successful action to bring Yahya Sinwar to justice by securing the release of all hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza in a way that provides lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians alike," the US State Department said in a statement on the Jerusalem meetings.
In a statement issued by his office, Netanyahu said Sinwar's elimination "may have a positive effect on the return of the hostages, the achievement of all the goals of the war, and the day after the war".
The US is trying to convince Israel to end the war now Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed. (EPA PHOTO)
But there was no mention of a possible ceasefire after a year of war in which Hamas' military capabilities have been greatly degraded and Gaza largely reduced to rubble, with most of its 2.3 million Palestinians displaced.
Western allies of Israel see Sinwar's killing last week as a potential breakthrough by providing Netanyahu's far-right government political cover to assert that its objectives have been achieved in Gaza.
But Israel has maintained that it will not stop fighting until the Palestinian Islamist militant group has been utterly destroyed as a military force and governing entity in Gaza.
For its part, Hamas has refused to free scores of hostages in Gaza seized in its October 7, 2023 raid on Israel without an Israeli pledge to end the war and pull out of the territory.
The State Department said Blinken and Netanyahu also discussed ways of implementing a long moribund 2006 UN resolution passed after the last Israel-Hezbollah war that would restore security and calm along the Israeli-Lebanese border and allow civilians on both sides to return to their homes.
But as Blinken was huddled with Israeli leaders, Hezbollah ruled out negotiations while fighting continues with Israel, and it claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting Netanyahu's holiday home on Saturday.
In his statement, Netanyahu also said there was a need for a change in the security and political situation in Lebanon that would allow Israelis to return safely to homes that had come under Hezbollah rocket fire.
Hezbollah announced dozens of attacks against Israeli targets on Tuesday, including what it said were Israeli military sites near Haifa and Tel Aviv, suggesting its capabilities have survived Israel's biggest onslaught in decades of hostilities.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Tuesday said he was "appalled" by the Israeli strike near the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut overnight.
Israelis have celebrated the killing of Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar. (AP PHOTO)
The hospital had suffered damage, probably by flying missile debris, according to its director Jihad Saadeh. While there were no casualties among the staff, efforts to rescue people in front of the hospital were ongoing, he added.
Israeli strikes continued across Lebanon on Tuesday, including one of which caused the precipitous collapse of an multi-storey building near central Beirut, sending more panicked residents fleeing.
Israel's offensive has driven at least 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes and killed 2530 people, including at least 63 over the past 24 hours, the Lebanese government said on Tuesday.