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US confirms Blinken to visit Israel this weekend
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel this weekend to seek to “conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees through the bridging proposal” presented on Friday during talks in Doha by the United States, a State Department statement said.
The White House said earlier that diplomats will keep working on the details, hoping to conclude the accord later next week in Cairo.
“This proposal would achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, secure the release of all hostages, ensure humanitarian assistance is distributed throughout Gaza and create the conditions for broader regional stability,” the statement said.
“Secretary Blinken will underscore the critical need for all parties in the region to avoid escalation or any other actions that could undermine the ability to finalise an agreement,” it said.
Ceasefire talks seem to have momentum
The language [in the ceasefire statement] suggests that the mediators are far more optimistic today than they have been leading into these talks. They’re talking about “bridging the gaps”, they’re talking about “narrowing the gaps”, “closing the gaps” – that’s what these talks were supposed to do.
When it comes to implementing either the framework agreement, which had been presented by US President Joe Biden at the end of May and agreed to Hamas in early July, or any type of amended agreement that came thereafter, there are still a lot of questions and not many answers at this hour.
There are going to be technical teams working on this over the course of the next week. There is going to be another meeting taking place in Cairo before the end of next week.
But it does seem right now that there is momentum – and that in itself is a big, positive step, considering where we were just 24 hours ago when we weren’t sure exactly what was going on behind closed doors.
Ceasefire deal could be at ‘make or break’ moment
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Israeli political analyst Ori Goldberg says increased pressure from the US and domestic politics in Israel could mean a ceasefire is close.
The US, Qatar and Egypt said in a statement today that they had presented a proposal to both Israel and Hamas during talks in Doha. They said negotiators would meet again in Cairo by the end of next week.
Goldberg said there remains widespread support for the war in Gaza among Israelis even though many dislike Netanyahu personally. The Israeli leader is aware of this and could make the political calculation that reaching a deal would not have political fallout for him.
“I’m basing this not on Netanyahu having a change of heart but on changing conditions, on Iran’s restraint and on the general sort of sense of urgency that seems to have taken hold,” he said.
Netanyahu hopes mediators can ‘pressure’ Hamas to accept ceasefire deal
Israel hopes that pressure from mediators and the United States will lead to Hamas accepting a ceasefire proposed by Israel on May 27, Netanyahu’s office says in a statement.
“Israel appreciates the efforts of the US and the mediators to dissuade Hamas from its rejection to the hostage deal,” it said in a statement.
“Israel’s fundamental principles are well known to the mediators and the US, and Israel hopes that their pressure will lead Hamas to accept the principles of May 27, so that the details of the agreement can be implemented.”
Hamas said it wants mediators to put pressure on Israel to accept the plan proposed by Biden on May 31. Netanyahu has reportedly sought several new conditions on a ceasefire since then.
People in Gaza follow ceasefire talks with scepticism
Palestinians see how mediators are working round the clock to bridge the gaps between Hamas and Israel to make a ceasefire achievable.
But at the same time, they believe that Israel has been granted more time to complete its genocide here in the Strip, because they believe that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is only interested in putting more obstacles and inserting more challenges in the road of achieving this deal with hard terms that could not be accepted by the Palestinian side.
They also believe that any ceasefire deal that cannot guarantee the return of displaced families to the north and to Rafah, where the Philadephi Corridor is, cannot be accepted by Palestinians.
They want to return to their houses, they want a complete cessation of all types of military action on the ground, and they do not want – as we have been hearing from them – that there can be one phase of the agreement and then a second phase could be breached and not completed.
They want a full, comprehensive ceasefire deal that can stop the bloodshed here on the ground – especially as more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed now.
