Blinken visits Israel, says talks 'maybe the last' chance for Gaza truce

TEL AVIV

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Israel to push for a Gaza truce, said on Monday that ongoing negotiations were "maybe the last" chance to reach an agreement to end the war.

After arriving in Tel Aviv Sunday on his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war began with Hamas's attack on Israel in Oct. 7, the top U.S. diplomat was set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense 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 U.S. official speaking on customary condition of anonymity described this as "a particularly critical time." Blinken aims "to press any and all 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 called on mediators—rather than holding more negotiations—to implement a framework outlined in late May by U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden said Sunday that a ceasefire was "still possible" and that the United States was "not giving up," in brief comments to reporters.

Following the Qatar talks between U.S., Egyptian, and Qatari mediators, the United States submitted a new compromise proposal, leading Hamas to accuse Netanyahu of obstruction on Sunday. 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," along with his insistence on continuing to occupy the Netzarim junction, the Rafah crossing, and the Philadelphi corridor.

The latter two locations are seen by Israel as key to preventing any weapons flow into the Gaza Strip, while the Netzarim junction sits at a strategic point between northern and southern Gaza. Hamas stated that Netanyahu was "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators, obstructing an agreement, and (bears) full responsibility for the lives" of hostages in Gaza.

Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu to reach an agreement. However, far-right members crucial to the prime minister's governing coalition oppose any truce. On Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas must be pressured.

"Hamas, up to this moment, remains obstinate. It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. Therefore, the pressure should be directed at Hamas and (Yahya) Sinwar, not at the Israeli government," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, referring to the Hamas chief.

The plan announced by Biden at the end of May would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks as Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters the besieged Gaza Strip. On Saturday, Netanyahu's office stated that Israeli negotiators had expressed "cautious optimism" about reaching a Gaza truce deal, with U.S., Qatari, and Egyptian mediators also reporting progress.

Months of intermittent truce negotiations have occurred without any agreement. However, the stakes have risen since the late July killings of Iran-backed militant leaders, including Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened with fears of a polio outbreak.

Israeli evacuation orders have "reduced the safe zone" in the south of the territory, leaving "no more space" for displaced Palestinians, said Samah Dib, 32. Some "are sleeping on the street," while clean water is scarce, and food at the markets is "very expensive and we have no money left," said Dib, who, like almost all Gazans, is among the displaced.

As efforts towards a long-sought truce continued, violence persisted in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and in Lebanon, where Israeli forces and Hamas's Iran-backed ally Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire throughout the war. Civil defense rescuers in Hamas-run Gaza reported a total of 11 people killed in Israeli bombardments of Deir el-Balah and airstrikes on Jabalia refugee camp.

"Are these women and children part of the resistance?" asked Ahmed Abu Kheir, who witnessed a strike that killed a mother and her six children in their apartment in Deir al-Balah. The latest killings raised Gaza's health ministry death toll to 40,099, mostly civilians.

Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel that started the war resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures. 

From the Israeli-designated safe zone in southern Gaza's Al-Mawasi, a fearful Lina Saleha, 44, reported hearing "constant artillery shelling" and the rumble of tanks "getting closer." Iran and its regional allies have vowed retaliation for Haniyeh's death in Tehran—which Israel has not claimed responsibility for—and for an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah commander.

U.S. officials have indirectly heard that Iran "wants to see a ceasefire; they don't want to see regional escalation," according to the U.S. official. Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 111 are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club watchdog group stated that since the Gaza war began, Israeli forces have detained "more than 10,000 Palestinians" in the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in 1967.