The day after the United Nations Security Council endorsed the US-backed ceasefire proposal in GazaSecretary of State Antony J. Blinken said Tuesday that the world is waiting for the response of Hamas leadership.
Placing responsibility directly on Hamas’s top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, Mr. Blinken, speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, asked whether the group was acting in the best interests of the Palestinian people by accept the deal or not. At the very least, he said, it would halt the fighting and allow more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.
Additionally, he said, Hamas may be “taking care of a guy,” Mr. Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding underground in Gaza, “while the people he purports to represent continue to suffer.” in the crossfire of his own creation.”
Making his eighth wartime visit to Israel, America’s top diplomat sought to focus public attention on Mr. Sinwar, saying the fate of the U.S.-backed ceasefire plan “is at a time when This really depends on the person.” But he also met with Israeli leaders who have not publicly endorsed the proposal. President Biden described an Israeli overture – and has not said that it will comply with the agreement if Hamas accepts it.
After meeting Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken said he received clear assurances that he supported the proposal, despite the doubts the Israeli leader sowed last week when he called the idea of a negotiated permanent ceasefire — which Hamas has called necessary — a “nonstarter.”
Mr. Netanyahu said he would not accept any deal that would end the war before Hamas’s military and administrative capabilities were destroyed, even as experts raise doubts about whether those goals can be achieved.
The resolution passed by the Security Council calls for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to achieve a permanent end to the fighting, and says that if those negotiations last more than six weeks, a temporary ceasefire will be extended. That appears to open the door to a longer pause in the war, which some Israeli leaders are reluctant to accept.
Mr. Blinken emphasized that “commitment to agreeing to this proposal is to seek that lasting ceasefire,” adding: “But that must be negotiated.”
Along with an immediate ceasefire, the first phase of the three-phase agreement calls for the release of all hostages being held in Gaza in exchange for a larger number of Palestinians held in prisons. of Israel, the return of displaced Gazans to their homes. and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the territory.
The second phase calls for a permanent ceasefire with the consent of both sides. The third phase will include a multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of dead hostages.
Mr. Blinken spoke on the patio of a seaside hotel in Tel Aviv in front of several relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, whom he had just met briefly. Some people held signs with photos of their loved ones reading the words “Bring them home.”
Blinken called Monday’s unanimous Security Council vote a sign that Hamas will be isolated if it does not agree to the proposed deal. The resolution “made it as clear as possible that this is what the world is looking for,” Mr. Blinken said.
transcript
transcript
The United Nations Security Council supports the ceasefire resolution in Gaza
14 out of 15 members of the United Nations Security Council, with Russia abstaining, voted in favor of adopting a proposal calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Neither Israel nor Hamas has officially accepted the plan.
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“14 votes in favor, 0 votes against, 1 abstention. The draft resolution that was approved is resolution 2735.” “Colleagues, the ceasefire will pave the way towards a lasting cessation of hostilities and a better future for all. As President Biden admitted just the other day, the Palestinian people have endured absolute hell in the war started by Hamas. There is an opportunity to chart a different course.”
In a statement Monday, Hamas said it “welcomes what is contained in the Security Council resolution affirming a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the complete withdrawal of troops, the exchange of prisoners, the reconstruction, bring displaced people back to their areas. residence, reject any demographic change or contraction in the Gaza Strip area and provide necessary aid to our people in the strip.”
Mr. Blinken called the statement “a hopeful sign.” But he added that what mattered “were the words of the leadership of Hamas in Gaza” — specifically Mr. Sinwar.
Mr. Blinken spoke to reporters before leaving for Amman, Jordan, where he was scheduled to attend a conference on humanitarian aid to Gaza. He also met Tuesday morning with Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, and with Benny Gantzwho withdrew his centrist party from Israel’s emergency wartime government on Sunday to protest Netanyahu’s handling of the war.
