To discuss the hostage agreement and the Rafah attack… Blinken is in Israel next week
The Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the New York Times that the talks with Blinken would focus on the kidnapped hostages in Gaza and the impending Israeli military operation in Rafah, south of Gaza.
Blinken’s last visit to Israel was in March, during which he warned that its plans to attack Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians were displaced, would carry severe risks for the civilian population. Since then, the administration of US President Joe Biden has continued to raise concerns about the planned attack, stressing that it will not be implemented without a reliable plan to protect civilians.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to go ahead with the attack, saying it was necessary to eliminate Hamas brigades in the southern city.
Blinken’s visit comes in light of the failure of international mediators to reach a temporary ceasefire that would give the Palestinians a respite from the Israeli bombing, and allow the release of the hostages who were kidnapped in the attack launched by Hamas on October 7.
The United States proposed a deal through Egyptian and Qatari mediators in which Hamas would release 40 of the most vulnerable hostages, in exchange for a six-week truce and the release of hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
On Thursday, a senior Biden administration official briefed reporters on the progress of the negotiations on the condition of anonymity, blaming Hamas solely for obstructing the deal.
The official said that while Israel indicated that it would accept these conditions, the response of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, “was completely unconstructive.”
The American official stated that Hamas has since indicated that it does not completely reject the agreement, and that it is ready to return to the talks again, adding that the United States and its partners will test this signal in the coming days.
In a related context, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement that the movement had received Israel’s official response to its position regarding the ceasefire talks, adding that it would “study” the proposal before announcing its response.
Israeli officials informed their Egyptian counterparts on Friday that Israel is ready to give the hostage negotiations a “last chance” to reach an agreement with Hamas, but if progress is not made soon, it will proceed with launching an attack on Rafah, according to what the Axios website quoted Israeli officials as saying. .
Israeli officials said that the talks with the Egyptians were constructive and that the Egyptians made clear that they intended to pressure Hamas to reach an agreement to release the hostages.
Two Israeli officials said that the Egyptians also expressed their understanding of the feeling of pressure regarding the Rafah operation.
An Israeli official said that his country “informed Egypt that it is serious about preparations for the operation in Rafah, and that it will not allow Hamas to slow down.”
The official added that the Israeli message indicated that “there is a clear deadline for the invasion of Rafah, and that Israel will not agree to another round of talks that are useless except deception.”
According to Axios, the proposal on the table includes the release of 40 Israeli hostages, in exchange for a six-week ceasefire, and the release of about 900 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Among the 40 hostages are women, female soldiers, men over the age of 50, and male hostages in poor health who will be released on humanitarian grounds.
The Egyptian delegation’s visit came after Israeli media reports about a visit to Cairo made on Thursday by Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy, the head of the Internal Security Service, and Ronen Bar.
The exchange rate of the dollar in Lebanon today, moment by moment
“Sigourney arrives today without the French paper, Hochstein will not visit Beirut, and Hezbollah remains on its position
[previous_post_link]
