Top US diplomat Antony Blinken has urged Hamas to accept a Gaza truce plan despite an Israeli warning that the army will keep fighting the Palestinian militant group after any ceasefire.
Mediators have proposed a truce deal that would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange dozens of hostages for many more Palestinian prisoners.“ Hama s needs to say yes and needs to get this done,” Blinken said Wednesday while in Israel on his seventh Middle East crisis tour since the war broke out in October.
The group’s aim remains an “end to this war”, senior Hamas official Suhail al-Hindi told AFP — a goal at odds with the stated position of Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu made his threat at a time of tensions between the traditional allies as the Gaza war has sparked global anger and weeks of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on US university campuses.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called on all sides to “show the necessary flexibility” to achieve a deal “that stops the bloodshed of Palestinians”, during a visit to Cairo by his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne. The militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel estimates that 129 captives remain in Gaza, but the military says 34 of them are dead.
UN agencies have warned that without urgent intervention, famine looms in Gaza, and the United States has also strongly urged Israel to speed up aid deliveries. Israel has faced mounting international pressure over its conduct of the war, with Colombia on Wednesday announcing that it was cutting diplomatic ties — a move Israel said was a “reward” for Hamas.Before flagging, please keep in mind that Disqus does not moderate communities. Your username will be shown to the moderator, so you should only flag this comment for one of the reasons listed above.
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