US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday in the next phase of diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and release hostages. In fact, Blinken remains a major area of dispute between Israel and Hamas. Earlier in the day, Blinken met President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt, whose country has been helping to mediate Gaza talks with the US and Qatar for months.
Blinken’s visit to the region also included meetings in Israel on Monday. He said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted the US “bridge proposal” aimed at narrowing the gap between the two sides after talks stalled last week without a breakthrough, and urged Hamas to accept it as well.
A senior Biden administration official told reporters traveling with Blinken that the United States expects ceasefire talks to continue this week.
Indeed, the militant Hamas group described the latest proposal presented to it as a “reversal” from the one it had agreed to, and in a statement accused the US of accepting Israel’s new conditions. There was no immediate US reaction to this.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met right-wing groups representing families of martyred soldiers and hostages in Gaza. Groups opposing the ceasefire agreement said Netanyahu told them that Israel would not give up two strategic corridors in Gaza, whose control by Israel is hindering the talks. Netanyahu’s office did not comment on his statement.