U.S. urges Hamas to take ceasefire deal as Blinken lands in Israel
U.S. urges Hamas to take ceasefire deal as Blinken lands in Israel
“No more delays, no more excuses: the time to act is now,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today.
The White House urged Hamas and its interlocutors to accept a “fresh” proposal that would in its first phase free three dozen vulnerable hostages during a 40 day Gaza ceasefire, and said the United States would serve as one of the guarantors of the deal.
“This is a…really good proposal and Hamas ought to jump at it,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on a zoom today (April 30). “And time is of the essence.”
“Our focus right now is on getting a ceasefire and hostages home,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Amman, Jordan, today before flying to Israel. “That is the most urgent thing, and it’s also I think what is achievable.”
The Israelis have “put a strong proposal on the table,” Blinken said, “and now it’s on Hamas.
“No more delays, no more excuses – the time to act is now,” he said.
No Plan B: ‘All of our energy…is squarely focused on trying to get this deal in place’
The NSC’s Kirby said the administration saw getting the deal as imperative, and was not willing to discuss a Plan B at this point.
“There just has to be” a ceasefire deal, Kirby said. “We’ve got this fresh proposal on the table….You're asking about Plan B or hypotheticals. I'm just not prepared to go into that right now.”
“All of our efforts, all of our energy, and quite frankly, all of the leadership here in the administration is squarely focused on trying to get this deal in place,” Kirby said.
The U.S. administration saw the ceasefire/hostage release deal as the crucial first step for trying to end the Gaza war more permanently, get Israel-Saudi normalization talks back on track, get regional support for post-war Gaza stabilization, and to deescalate tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
The deal “would get some more hostages out, get us that six weeks of a ceasefire,” Kirby said.
And with that six week ceasefire, Kirby said, “we believe there's a decent chance that we can get something even more enduring. And if you can get something more enduring, you can end this conflict. And if you can end this conflict, then back to the question I got on normalization, you can start…to pick up those conversations and move that forward.
“There's an immense amount of possibility here,” Kirby said. “But it has to start with getting this hostage deal in place, getting those people back to their families where they belong, and getting…hopefully six weeks of some peace with no fighting.”
“We have a real shot here,” he said.
Israeli media reports said that Israel was expecting Hamas to give its response on the latest proposal to mediators meeting in Cairo on Wednesday evening.
“An Israeli official stated on Tuesday that no Israeli delegation will depart for negotiations with Hamas in Cairo, as Israel is awaiting Hamas’ response to the Egyptian proposal, expected Wednesday evening, after which a decision will be made regarding the delegation’s departure,” Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported.
President Biden spoke separately with both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamid Al-Thani on Monday to urge them “to exert all efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas as this is now the only obstacle to an immediate ceasefire and relief for civilians in Gaza,” the White House said in a readout of the calls.
“The President confirmed that the United States together with Egypt and Qatar would work to ensure the full implementation of its terms,” the White House said.
Blinken on Wednesday is due to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, and to visit the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza and the Ashdod port, as well as to meet again with families of American citizens being held hostage by Hamas, the Times of Israel reported.
Progress seen getting more aid into Gaza, but state of lawlessness, deconfliction issues persist
“We’ve seen in the last few weeks.. clear and demonstrable progress in getting more assistance into Gaza,” Blinken said today in Jordan. “In particular, we’ve seen the opening of new crossings, including Erez, which was hugely important. We see now the use of Ashdod and the port…And right here in Jordan, we’re seeing a direct route from Jordan to northern Gaza through Erez, the first shipments leaving today.”
“So this is real and important progress, but more still needs to be done,” he said, including getting not just food into Gaza but medicine, a clearer list of items permitted to enter Gaza, and “to have a de-confliction mechanism that is effective and works.”
Chef Jose Andres, founder of food charity World Central Kitchen, which resumed food assistance in Gaza this week after seven of its staff members were killed by Israeli military drone strikes earlier this month, wrote in the Washington Post today of continued problems his staff are experiencing trying to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, including the state of lawlessness that Gaza has been left in after six months of war.
“Our convoys have been held by at IDF checkpoints for hours on end, despite coordination with the Israeli government,” Andres wrote. “Those delays create crowds desperate to receive food, add to the food panic and push our missions into nightfall, dramatically increasing the dangers faced by our aid workers.”
“The biggest challenge is the one the Netanyahu government has almost entire failed to address,” Andres wrote. “Without law and order on the ground in Gaza, there is a constant threat to civilians around any food aid. Humanitarian groups have very limited means to establish security to protect our own workers—or the civilians we are trying to help.”
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