US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “reaffirmed his commitment” to the Gaza ceasefire plan and that if it did not move forward, Hamas would be responsible.
Mr. Blinken reiterated his call for Hamas to accept the plan as President Biden outlined 11 days ago. He made this statement one day after talks with Mr. Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
He said the responsibility lies with “a guy” hiding “ten floors underground in Gaza” to carry out the selection vote, referring to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Mr. Netanyahu has not publicly endorsed what Mr. Biden outlined nor said whether it is consistent with Israel’s ceasefire proposal on which Mr. Biden’s statement is based.
Mr Blinken described Hamas’s response as a “sign of hope”. a resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council on Monday supports what Mr. Biden announced.
The resolution noted that Israel accepted what Mr. Biden presented and called on Hamas to do the same.
Hamas issued a statement Tuesday welcoming “what is included” in the resolution.
But Blinken said Hamas’s response was not conclusive, adding that “what matters” is what Hamas leaders in Gaza say, “and that’s what we don’t have.”
If the proposal doesn’t proceed, it’s “theirs,” he said.
After months of stalled ceasefire negotiations behind closed doors, Biden last month publicly announced what he said was “Israel’s roadmap toward a lasting ceasefire and the release of all hostages.” ” which he later outlined.
The proposal involves an initial six-week ceasefire with Hamas releasing some hostages in exchange for Israel releasing an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners.
The second phase would see the remaining hostages released by Hamas and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza as part of a “permanent” ceasefire, but the latter phase would still be negotiated.
Blinken’s trip is part of a robust US diplomatic effort to try to push the parties to make progress on the proposal, but reaching a deal faces major obstacles.
Mr. Netanyahu admitted that his war cabinet had approved the plan but had not voiced clear support for it. Far-right nationalist members of his cabinet have threatened to leave his coalition and cause it to collapse if the deal goes ahead, seeing it as a capitulation to Hamas.
Meanwhile, Hamas will likely seek clear assurances that the proposal will lead to a complete Israeli withdrawal and a permanent end to the war.
So far, the country has not yet officially responded to this plan.
Israel’s actual proposal – said to be longer than the summary presented by Mr Biden – has not yet been made public and it is unclear whether it differs from what the president conveyed in his May 31 statement. It was given to Hamas a few days before Mr. Biden’s speech.
The Israeli proposal was approved by Israel’s three-person war cabinet and has not been disclosed to the wider government. Some far-right ministers have made it clear that they oppose it.
The Biden administration is trying to leverage popular pressure as part of its campaign to push the parties to make progress on the proposal.
When Mr. Blinken met with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, protesters outside his hotel held American flags calling for a deal. Many held photos of hostages and chanted: “SOS, USA” and “we trust you, Blinken, sign a deal.”
Vicki Cohen, mother of Nimrod Cohen, 19, an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, holds a banner with his picture.
She told the BBC: “We came here to ask Blinken and the US government to help us, to save us from our own government. Our prime minister does not want to bring our loved ones back , we need their help to put pressure on our government.” “
Mr. Blinken then spoke to Ms. Cohen and the other hostage families, including the Americans, in a brief exchange with them outside the hotel.
“You will be here every day, we will be here every day,” he told them.
The Secretary of State continued his whirlwind diplomatic visit, flying by U.S. military plane to the Jordanian capital Amman, and from there by helicopter to the Dead Sea to attend a conference of Arab leaders calling for continued More aid to war-torn Gaza.
The trip involved five Jordanian air force helicopters carrying Blinken, his officials and the BBC along with a traveling press corps. The fleet headed west, flying low, to the town of Swemeh on the Dead Sea shore, located just across the water from the occupied West Bank.
In his speech at the conference, Blinken said that Israel has taken “some important steps” to ensure aid gets to Gaza, but he emphasized that the country “can and must do more.” .
He also announced new aid worth $404 million to the Palestinians, calling on other countries to also “step up” their support.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at the conference: “The horror must end.” “The pace and scale of the carnage and killing in Gaza far exceeds anything during my years as secretary general,” he said.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths described the war in Gaza as a “stain on our humanity” and called for $2.5 billion to meet the humanitarian needs of Palestinians there. Gaza from April to December.
The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 37,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive since then.
