TEL AVIV: Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Monday urged Israel and Palestinian groups not to derail negotiations that he said may be a "last opportunity" to secure a Gaza truce and captives release deal. Blinken, on his ninth regional tour since October 7 attack triggered the war, said he was back in Israel "to get this agreement to the line and ultimately over the line".
"This is a decisive moment — probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the captives home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security," Blinken said as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.
The US secretary of state later met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and is due to travel on Tuesday to Cairo where ceasefire talks are expected to resume this week.
Israel and Hamas blamed each other for delays in reaching a truce accord, which diplomats say could help avert a wider conflagration in the Middle East. "We're working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity," Blinken said. "It is time for it to get done. It's also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process."
Ahead of talks in Qatar last week, Hamas had called on mediators, rather than holding more negotiations, to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden. Biden said on Sunday that a ceasefire was "still possible" and that the United States was "not giving up", in brief comments to reporters.
After the Qatar meeting, the United States had submitted what mediators called a "bridging proposal", which Hamas on Sunday said "responds to Netanyahu's conditions" and includes terms that the Palestinian group would not accept.
Hamas insisted on "a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip", saying Netanyahu wanted to keep Israeli forces at several strategic locations. Netanyahu was "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators", the Palestinian movement said in a statement.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators also reported progress. Far-right members crucial to the prime minister's governing coalition oppose any truce. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 40,139 people, according to the territory's health ministry.
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