US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday Gaza I arrived in Egypt to negotiate a ceasefire.
He said that Israel has accepted the US bridging proposal and urged Hamas to do the same.
Blankenship is on his ninth trip to the Middle East since the start of the war with Israel following the October 7 attack, during which he arrived in the Mediterranean city of Al-Ameen and also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Later, he will travel to Doha to meet Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, where ceasefire talks took place last week.
Both Egypt and Qatar are working with the US to broker a ceasefire in the 10-month-old Gaza conflict.
The US made the latest proposal after talks in Doha last week.
Blanken said Monday that he had a “very constructive meeting” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the interim proposal.”
Ahead of those talks, Hamas called on mediators to implement the framework agreed in late May by US President Joe Biden instead of further negotiations.
Hamas said on Sunday that the current US proposal is “a response to Netanyahu’s conditions.”
Over the weekend, Sami Abu Zuhri, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said US optimism about the prospects for a deal was a ‘delusion’.
On Monday, the US secretary of state said: ‘This is a decisive moment, perhaps the best, perhaps the last chance, to bring the hostages home, to have a ceasefire and put everyone on a better path to lasting peace and security. .’
A sense of urgency
Israel and Hamas are blaming each other for delaying a deal that diplomats say could help avert a wider war in the Middle East, which would pit Iran and Hezbollah against each other. May add to Lebanon.
Iran and Hezbollah vowed to retaliate after an Israeli attack on Beirut last month that killed a top Hezbollah commander, Fouad Shukar, and an attack in Tehran soon after, blamed on was imposed on Israel, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed.
Hezbollah said it fired rockets at Israeli military positions in the occupied Golan Heights, the latest in near-daily cross-border clashes since the start of the Gaza war.
“I think there’s a real sense of urgency across the region to get it done and done as soon as possible,” Blanken said.
The Biden administration is facing domestic pressure over the Gaza issue, and pro-Palestinian protests took place outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday.
In his farewell speech at the convention, Biden said the protesters ‘have a point,’ and said ‘a lot of innocent people are being killed, on both sides.’
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“It’s still under consideration, but you can’t predict it,” he said as he prepared to leave Chicago, acknowledging Hamas’ objections to the latest draft.
Independent ceasefire
Israeli military operations continue in Gaza amid ceasefire negotiations.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing seven people. The Israeli military said it hit a Hamas command center.
Medical sources reported six people were killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in and around the southern city of Rafah.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 40,173 people have been killed in the Israeli counter-offensive in Gaza.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the Hamas offensive, 105 are still in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead, according to the military.
The Biden framework would initially halt fighting for six weeks while Israeli hostages would be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid would flow into Gaza.
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2024-08-20 22:04:47
