The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, affirmed this Wednesday in Tel Aviv his determination to achieve “now” a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas that would allow the release of hostages, in the seventh month of a devastating war in the Gaza Strip. Loop. The diplomat’s seventh visit to Israel since the Hamas attack on October 7 coincides with the Islamist group continuing to study its response to the proposal for a 40-day cessation of hostilities.
Blinken, who arrived tonight at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, and is scheduled to meet with Netanyahu today in Jerusalem, praised the proposal for a truce in Gaza presented to Hamas, which he described as “very intelligent” and that the Palestinian group “needs to say yes,” he told relatives of people kidnapped by the Islamist group who were waiting for him in front of his hotel, according to the newspaper Haaretz.
“Even in these difficult times, we are determined to achieve a ceasefire that brings the hostages home and achieve it now. And the only reason it will not happen is Hamas,” said Blinken, during a meeting in Tel Aviv with the President Isaac Herzog.
A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, called Blinken’s comments an attempt to pressure the Palestinian group and absolve Israel. And he added that Hamas is still studying the proposal, in fact having asked mediators from Qatar and Egypt for clarification on some details. And yesterday afternoon Beniamín Netanyahu was relentless in his plans to invade Rafah, in the south of Gaza, “with or without an agreement.” In his meeting with Blinken, the Israeli president insisted that he will not accept an agreement that includes the end of the war in Gaza.
The Israeli leader reiterated that he will order the ground operation in the Gazan territory, which houses about half of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the enclave despite the fact that the truce is reached. “The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all its objectives is out of the question,” added the president in a meeting with relatives of kidnapped people and victims of the October 7 attack, alluding to the three objectives that he has set for himself. in these almost seven months of war: recover the hostages, put an end to the military force of Hamas and ensure that Gaza stops being a “threat” to Israel.
According to an Israeli official, Israel will wait until “Wednesday afternoon” for a response from Hamas before deciding whether or not to send a delegation to Cairo with a view to a possible agreement. The truce counteroffer being studied by Hamas would include the exchange of 33 live hostages for an undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners, in addition to the return of Gazans displaced to the north. The Islamists have not modified their initial demands, including a comprehensive end to the war, something that could now have been transformed into a cessation that would last months.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, warned on Tuesday that the Israeli incursion into Rafah would represent an “unbearable escalation” that would have a “devastating impact” on the Palestinian enclave itself, which would “kill thousands of civilians,” but also in the occupied West Bank and throughout the region. To which UN Undersecretary General Martin Griffiths added that the improvements in the delivery of aid that Israel and the United States are planning for Gaza “cannot justify an Israeli offensive in Rafah.”
