The United States is pushing to prevent the war in Gaza from spreading to the region and to secure a humanitarian “ceasefire” agreement, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken scheduled to arrive in Israel tomorrow, Friday, for the second time since the fighting began on October 7.

He told reporters before leaving the United States today, Thursday, on a trip that also includes a stop in Jordan, "We are determined to prevent escalation on any of these fronts, whether in southern Lebanon, the West Bank, or anywhere else in the region." And Turkey.

"We are making sure this message gets through. It is not in anyone’s interest for this to escalate, and some other concerned parties have realized that, but we will work on it every day.”

He spoke as attention turned to Lebanon, where Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to give his first public speech since the war, amid escalating violence on Israel’s northern border while the Israeli army continues its main focus on Gaza in the south.

Hezbollah said it carried out 19 simultaneous raids on Israeli army positions on Thursday using guided missiles, artillery, and other weapons, coinciding with what it described as raids using two explosive drones, and Nasrallah’s speech is expected to indicate whether the group will expand the violence into a full-scale war.

In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House is concerned about the raid but has seen no evidence that Hezbollah is prepared to launch a full-scale war with Israel.

Blinken is scheduled to arrive at a time when it seems the US strategy to bolster Israel’s current regional allies and expand its coalitions is collapsing under the pressure of the war.

Bahrain said on Thursday that the Gulf state’s ambassador to Israel has returned to his country and that the Israeli ambassador in Manama left “some time ago,” confirming a previous statement from its parliament.

But the government statement did not confirm cutting economic ties, as the parliament mentioned earlier, in protest over the war in Gaza.

Jordan recalled its ambassador on Wednesday as did Colombia and Chile. Bolivia cut ties with Israel completely.

Senior US officials, including Blinken and President Joe Biden, faced protests demanding a ceasefire.

Biden was speaking to about 200 people in Minnesota late on Wednesday when a protester shouted: “As a rabbi, I want you to call for a ceasefire now.”

Biden responded, “I think we need a pause. A pause means giving time to get the prisoners out.”

The White House later clarified that Biden was referring to hostages — not prisoners — held by Hamas.

Kirby told reporters that the US wants to see a halt in fighting to allow the safe passage of foreign nationals out of Gaza, a step that started Wednesday. Estimates indicate about 7,500 foreign passport holders, including Americans, want to leave. Additionally, Hamas holds 242 hostages.

He added, “We are not talking about a single pause, what we’re trying to do is explore the idea of as many pauses as possible to continue delivering aid and continue working to get people out safely, including the hostages.” 

He indicated that Biden has already secured such a pause last month when Hamas released two American hostages. Kirby said, “That’s what we’re looking at,” explaining these pauses will be to achieve specific goals. He said each pause will require negotiation and diplomacy.

He pointed out that 55 humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza through the Egyptian Rafah crossing and that more will continue to be sent to the sector.

But human rights experts have warned that food and medicine are not enough to prevent a humanitarian crisis as the number of Palestinian casualties rose to over 9,000, according to Hamas data.

Several UN human rights experts accused Israel of committing genocide through its bombing. The Israeli army said it is targeting Hamas terrorist targets hiding inside civilian areas, including under hospitals.

Blinken told reporters that “Israel not only has the right but has the obligation to defend itself and take steps to ensure that this [October 7 attack] does not happen again.”

But he cautioned that “how Israel does that matters.”