2024-08-19 23:19:31
Radical Islamist group Hamas criticized US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s comments on ceasefire talks in the Gaza conflict. Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters that Blinken’s statement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would accept the updated proposal raised “a lot of ambiguity.” Blinken will travel to Cairo on Tuesday in light of the negotiations.
Hamdan said the proposals Blinken mentioned “are neither consistent with what we submitted nor what we agreed to.” His group has told mediators that new ceasefire talks are not needed. Instead, Hamas demanded agreement on an “implementation mechanism” for the deal already reached. Blinken has previously called on Hamas to accept his government’s proposal for a temporary ceasefire arrangement, something Netanyahu has already done.
The US secretary of state will travel to Cairo again for talks on Tuesday. A meeting with government representatives is planned there against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations on a new deal between Israel and Hamas. Talks, which were interrupted in Qatar’s capital Doha on Friday, are expected to resume in the Egyptian capital later this week. Blinken had previously met with President Yitzhak Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
It is Blinken’s ninth trip to the region since Hamas attacked Israel ten months ago and the subsequent war in Gaza. Recently, the United States proposed a new compromise plan to Israel and Hamas, both parties to the conflict. Mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar later issued a joint statement saying the proposal bridged “remaining differences”. Blinken said in Israel that the current talks could be the “best and perhaps last chance” for a ceasefire and the return of hostages.
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