JERUSALEM (AP) — US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken On Wednesday, pressure was increased on Hamas to accept the latest proposal of ceasefire with Israelsaying “the time has come” to reach an agreement that would free the hostages and end nearly seven months of war in Gaza.
But a key sticking point appears to remain: whether the deal would completely end the Israeli offensive as Hamas demands.
Blinken met with Israeli leaders throughout the day in the final stop of his seventh visit to the region since the war began in October, trying to push through what has been an elusive deal between Israel and Hamas. The United States and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar hope to avert an Israeli offensive against the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.
Throughout months of talks, Hamas has said the release of all the hostages it holds must bring a definitive end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
The proposed deal, currently at the center of negotiations, raises this possibility, according to details disclosed and confirmed by an Egyptian official and a Hamas official. But Hamas is seeking to strengthen language to ensure a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire Gaza Strip, the Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal negotiations. The group said it would likely give its response to the proposal on Thursday.
In public, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has categorically rejected stopping the war before the destruction of Hamas. In a sign of the difficulties of the negotiations, Netanyahu, during his talks with Blinken on Wednesday, reiterated his promise to launch the offensive on Rafah, which he said is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza.
Blinken said Israel had made “very significant” compromises in the ceasefire efforts and that it was now up to Hamas to seal the deal.
“We no longer have time to haggle any further. The deal is there,” Blinken said, shortly before leaving Israel.
Earlier in the day, he said in talks with ceremonial Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv that Hamas would bear responsibility for any failure to reach an agreement. “No delays, no excuses. The time has come,” he said.
Blinken said the deal would also allow much-needed food, medicine and water to enter Gaza, where the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis, pushing northern Gaza on the verge of starvation and drove about 80% of the 2.3 million residents from their homes.
Blinken said there had been “significant progress” in efforts to increase the flow of aid. On Wednesday, Israel reopened its Erez crossing to deliveries to northern Gaza for the first time since it was damaged during the Hamas attack on October 7.
Beyond ceasefire negotiations, there is the possibility of an Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population has fled, crowding into vast tent camps and other shelters. . On Tuesday, Netanyahu vowed to continue the assault with or without a ceasefire agreement.
“The operation in Rafah does not depend on anything. The Prime Minister made this clear to Secretary Blinken,” Netanyahu’s office said after their meeting on Wednesday. The most hardline members of Netanyahu’s coalition, on which he depends to keep his government in power, denounced any agreement preventing an attack in Rafah as a victory for Hamas.
The United States has strongly supported Israel’s campaign of bombings and ground offensives in Gaza since Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel. But the United States is increasingly critical of the heavy toll on Palestinian civilians and has clearly opposed any measures regarding Rafah. U.S. officials say they oppose a major offensive but that if Israel does carry one out, it will have to evacuate civilians first.
In Rafah, Palestinians clung to hope that after months of quasi-deals, this time a ceasefire would be sealed and avert an attack.
Salwa Abu Hatab, a woman who fled Khan Younis and is now in a tent camp, said she wanted to return home.
“Do you think we like life in tents? We are tired and in pain,” she said. “Every day they say there is a truce and negotiations, and ultimately it fails. We hope they succeed this time.
“If the invasion happens, we don’t know where to go,” said Enas Syam, a woman from Gaza City carrying her child into the camp. “There is no longer a safe place. »
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continued. On Tuesday evening, a strike hit a house in Rafah, killing at least two children, according to hospital authorities. An Associated Press reporter saw the children’s bodies at Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital as their relatives mourned.
The war between Israel and Hamas was sparked by October 7 raid in southern Israel during which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped around 250 hostages. Hamas is believed to still be in power a hundred hostages and the remains of more than 30 other people.
Since then, the Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health authoritiesand caused widespread destruction.
Throughout his regional visit, with previous stops in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Blinken urged Hamas to accept the ceasefire proposal, calling it “extraordinarily generous” on Israel’s part.
The proposal provides for three stages of six to seven weeks each, according to details first reported by the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, close to Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The first phase would involve a pause during which Hamas would release women and elderly civilians in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In a series of timed stages, Israeli troops would withdraw from a coastal road in Gaza, then from central Gaza and the displaced people would return to the north.
In the meantime, talks should begin to restore “permanent calm,” the Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal negotiations.
The next step would be to establish calm, including the release by Hamas of all remaining hostages – soldiers and civilians – and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The Egyptian official said Hamas considers the language regarding the withdrawal to be too vague and wants to specify a complete withdrawal to avoid different interpretations.
The final stage would see the release of the bodies of the dead hostages and the start of a five-year reconstruction plan. The plan indicates that Hamas would agree not to rebuild its military arsenal.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Mednick from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
