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[global times comprehensive report] after two consecutive days of large-scale communication equipment explosions in lebanon and the israeli army launching large-scale air strikes on hezbollah, axios news reported on the 19th that us secretary of defense austin postponed his visit to israel originally scheduled for the 22nd due to concerns about the escalation of the lebanon-israel conflict. israeli officials said that austin had a phone call with israeli defense minister galant on the 18th to discuss the situation in lebanon and gaza and informed him of the decision to postpone the trip.

on the 19th,pentagonwhen asked about the content of the call between the us and israeli defense ministers, the spokesperson said:austinhe told galant that the priority for the situation in gaza should be to reach an agreement to release the hostages held by hamas and to achieve a ceasefire in gaza. regarding the situation in lebanon and israel, austin hoped that israel would resolve the border issue with lebanon through diplomatic means. the spokesperson said that austin would reiterate to galant almost every time that the united states hopes to see the regional tensions calmed down, "we absolutely do not want to see a wider regional conflict."

at the same time, u.s. officials have said almost nothing about the plan to promote a ceasefire in gaza that the biden administration had touted a few months ago. the wall street journal quoted an exclusive revelation from several anonymous u.s. officials on the 19th, saying that for several months, u.s. president biden and senior officials have been claiming thatisraelthe united states and hamas are close to reaching a ceasefire and hostage release agreement. but now these senior officials privately admit that it is impossible for the two sides to reach a ceasefire agreement before the end of biden's term. a us official said: "no agreement will be reached immediately. i am not sure whether an agreement can be reached."

u.s. officials cited two main reasons for their pessimism. first, how many palestinian prisoners israel must release in order to bring back the hostages held by hamas is a major sticking point in the negotiations. reports say that the explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies in lebanon and israel's massive air strikes on hundreds of hezbollah targets in lebanon have greatly increased the possibility of a full-scale war in the middle east and made it more difficult to negotiate with hamas diplomatically.

in addition, us officials blamed hamas, saying that hamas's "uncompromising attitude" of proposing conditions and then rejecting them was frustrating. however, some critics accused netanyahu of undermining the negotiation process in order to please the domestic far right.

the report said that regarding the gaza ceasefire negotiations, the mood of the us government has been as low as that of many middle eastern countries in the past few months. "it is impossible to reach an agreement now," an official from an arab country said after israel's large-scale air strikes on hezbollah in lebanon on the 19th. "everyone is waiting and watching until the (us) election is over. the election results will determine what the next government will do."

the wall street journal said that the failure of israel and hamas to reach a ceasefire agreement could damage biden's political legacy. the report said that cia director burns, one of the us government's chief negotiators on the gaza ceasefire, does not plan to return to the middle east negotiation table immediately. some us officials stressed that although things may change between now and the inauguration day of the new us president, whether democratic presidential candidate harris or republican presidential candidate trump wins the election, they will have to inherit the war-torn situation in the middle east. (wang yi)