TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured him of support for a US proposal to bridge gaps on reaching a Gaza ceasefire, and pressed Hamas to agree.
Following three hours of talks with the prime minister in Jerusalem, Blinken said that Netanyahu promised Israel would send a team to talks scheduled to resume this week, mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal. He supports it. It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same,” Blinken told reporters later in Tel Aviv.
“What I would say to Hamas and to its leadership is, if it genuinely cares about the Palestinian people that it purports to somehow represent, then it will say ‘yes’ to this agreement, and it will work on clear understandings about how to implement it,” Blinken said, a day after Hamas accused Netanyahu of obstructing the mediation efforts.
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Hamas had called on mediators to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden. The movement said the bridging proposal “responds to Netanyahu’s conditions” and leaves him “fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators.”
But Blinken said: “The single quickest, best, most effective way to relieve the terrible suffering of the Palestinians that was instigated by Hamas’s attack on October 7 and the war that ensued is to complete this agreement.”
Blinken said he would travel Tuesday to both Egypt and Qatar and meet with the leaders of the two Arab nations, which have worked with the United States on a ceasefire plan.
He said he hoped to hear from the Arab partners the latest on Hamas’s position and he played down the criticism of the bridging proposal.
“We’ve seen public statements before where they don’t fully reflect where Hamas is,” Blinken said.
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