Is an Israel-Hamas Gaza deal any closer? U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the “gaps are narrowing” in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas over another cease-fire and hostage release that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have spent several weeks trying to broker.
Blinken’s sixth visit to the region since the start of the Israel-Hamas war began in Saudi Arabia before going to Egypt on Thursday with a stop in Israel planned for Friday.
In an interview Wednesday with the Al-Hadath network in Saudi Arabia, Blinken said the mediators worked with Israel to put a “strong proposal” on the table. He said Hamas rejected it, but came back with other demands that the mediators are working on.
“The gaps are narrowing, and I think an agreement is very much possible,” Blinken said.
The Health Ministry in Gaza raised the territory’s death toll Thursday to nearly 32,000 Palestinians. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. A United Nations food agency warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza.
Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people in the surprise Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza that triggered the war, and abducted another 250 people. Hamas is still believed to be holding some 100 people hostage, as well as the remains of 30 others.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the head of the Mossad spy agency will return to Qatar on Friday to meet with the head of the CIA and other key mediators as part of ongoing cease-fire talks trying to reach an Israel-Hamas Gaza deal.
The office said Thursday that Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence chief would also join the talks.
Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt have been trying to broker a deal that would pause the fighting between Israel and Hamas for at least six weeks.
During that time, Hamas would release some of the more than 100 hostages it is holding in Gaza. Israel would release some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners it is holding and it would allow more aid to enter the war-battered Gaza Strip.
Hamas has demanded guarantees that any cease-fire agreement will lead to an end to the war and the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, from which hundreds of thousands fled following Israeli evacuation orders in October.
Israel has thus far rejected those demands, saying it is determined to renew its offensive after any cease-fire and continue fighting until it destroys Hamas.
(Source: AP)
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