Washington - US President Joe Biden said Sunday that a Gaza ceasefire remained a possibility, despite Israel and Hamas trading blame as top diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv to push a deal.
Biden told reporters after spending the weekend at his Camp David retreat that talks were still underway and that "we're not giving up," adding that an accord was "still possible."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to meet Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to try to unblock the process for a ceasefire in Gaza, even as the premier and Hamas traded blame for delays in reaching a truce accord. After arriving in Tel Aviv Sunday on his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war began, the top US diplomat was set to meet
with Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and President Isaac Herzog.
Blinken will then travel to Cairo on Tuesday, where ceasefire talks will resume in the coming days.
Diplomats say a Gaza deal could help avert a wider conflagration, and a US official speaking on customary condition of anonymity said this is "a particularly critical time".
Blinken aims "to press any parties that it's important to get the remaining pieces of this across the finish line", said the official.
Ahead of truce talks in Qatar last Thursday and Friday, Hamas had called on mediators to implement a After the Qatar talks between US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators, the United States submitted a new compromise proposal, leading Hamas on Sunday to accuse Netanyahu of obstruction.
According to Hamas, the proposal "responds to Netanyahu's conditions, especially his rejection of a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and his insistence on continuing to occupy the Netzarim junction, the Rafah crossing, and the Philadelphi corridor".
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