US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Israel in his latest attempt to push for a ceasefire and an agreement to release the hostages in Gaza.
His ninth trip to the region since the war began in October comes days after the United States presented an amended proposal aimed at bridging long-standing differences between the two sides.
Both the US and Israel are optimistic about a deal since negotiations resumed in Doha last week, but Hamas says suggestions of progress are an “illusion”.
The differences include whether Israeli troops will be forced to withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip, as Hamas insists.
On Sunday, Hamas issued a statement accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentayahu of creating “obstacles” in the way of an agreement and imposing new conditions and demands to extend the war.
It added that the group held him “fully responsible” for thwarting the efforts of mediators and “blocking an agreement.”
A Hamas source previously told Saudi media that the proposals included maintaining a reduced Israeli military presence along the Philadelphia Corridor, a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
But Israeli sources told The Times of Israel that other procedures along the border could offset an Israeli withdrawal from the area in the first phase of the agreement.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
Since then, more than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas territory’s health ministry.
In a cease-fire agreement reached in November, Hamas released 105 hostages in exchange for a week-long cease-fire and the release of about 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israel says 111 hostages remain, 39 of whom are presumed dead. Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden said that “we are closer than we have ever been” to a deal.
But the optimism expressed during months of continuous negotiations turned out to be unfounded. Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that complex negotiations were underway to secure the return of the hostages, but that certain principles must be respected for Israel’s security. “There are things we can be flexible about, and there are things we cannot be flexible about, and we insist on them. We know very well how to differentiate between the two,” he said.
He also accused Hamas of being stubborn in the negotiations and called for additional pressure on the militant group.
On Saturday, a senior Hamas official told the BBC: “What we have received from the mediators is very disappointing. There has been no progress.”
Meanwhile, health authorities in Hamas-led Gaza say Israeli airstrikes killed at least 21 people, including six children, on Sunday. The Israeli military announced on Sunday that it had destroyed rockets fired at Israel from the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks, killing 20 Palestinians.
Source: BBC News
