Hamas Israel Conflict….Day 381…..Israel still tearing up Lebanon…..

Israel’s military said it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure and accused the group of embedding in civilian areas in the city, whose Roman ruins have earned it a place as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It wasn’t immediately clear what Israel’s targets or the extent of the damage or casualties were.

The strikes came after Hezbollah said it had fired at an Israeli military base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, setting off air raid sirens and sending people rushing to take cover, including Mr. Blinken, who sheltered with other guests at his luxury hotel in Tel Aviv. Speaking at Ben Gurion Airport before traveling to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Mr. Blinken told reporters that he had discussed new options for a cease-fire plan in a meeting on Tuesday with the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

A senior U.S. official said Mr. Blinken was referring to the possibility that Israel might be willing to pause its Gaza offensive briefly in return for a small number of hostages. That gambit could help determine whether Hamas is more open to negotiations following the death last week of its leader, Yahya Sinwar.

In Riyadh, Mr. Blinken was scheduled to hold talks on the postwar governance and reconstruction of Gaza, Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon and a potential U.S.-Saudi-Israel agreementthat the Biden administration has pursued for more than two years.

Here’s what else to know:

• Humanitarian crisis: Mr. Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning that Israel was delivering more aid to Gaza under U.S. pressure, “but more progress needs to be made.” The Biden administration warned Israel this month that the United States could cut off military aid if the delivery of humanitarian supplies to Gaza did not increase within 30 days. Aid workers in northern Gaza are struggling to secure approval from the Israeli authorities to help find survivors in the rubble created by Israeli military strikes, U.N. officials say.

• Polio campaign: The United Nations has postponed a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza because of the escalating violence and lack of access to vaccination sites. Aid agencies had planned to start the third and final round of vaccinations on Wednesday, aiming to reach around 120,000 children.

• Hezbollah confirms a leader’s death: Hezbollah acknowledged on Wednesday that Hashem Safieddine, who was seen as likely to take over leadership of the group, was killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier this month. He was the presumed successor to Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief who was killed in another strike just days earlier. Speculation about Mr. Safieddine’s death had been swirling for weeks, but it was not confirmed by Israel until Tuesday.

• Arrests in Israel: The Israeli authorities said on Tuesday that they had arrested seven residents of a predominantly Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem who the authorities said planned to assassinate a senior Israeli scientist and the mayor of a large Israeli city on behalf of Iran…..

More….

…

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated Iran’s intentions to increase ties with Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, on October 23.