Monday 16 / September / 2024
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged both Israel and Hamas to finalize an agreement for a truce in Gaza, saying that 90% of the deal has already been agreed upon, according to a US assessment.
"Based on what I have seen, 90% is agreed but there are a few critical issues that remain," Blinken said.
He said it was incumbent on both Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to fill the gaps and reach an agreement that would end the fighting and secure the release of hostages held in Gaza.
Sticking points include a possible Israeli presence in the Philadelphi corridor — the name given to the Gaza Strip's southern edge that borders Egypt — and how hostages and Palestinian prisoners would be exchanged. Blinken said.
"I expect in the coming days, we will share with Israel, and they [mediators Qatar and Egypt] will share with Hamas our thoughts, the three of us, on exactly how to resolve remaining outstanding questions," Blinken added.
"As close as I believe we are to getting a cease-fire agreement, every day that goes by where it is not finalized and the parties don't say, Yes, period,' is a day in which something else happens, and there is an intervening event which simply pushes things off and runs the risk of derailing what is a pretty fragile apple cart," he said.
In an interview with US news channel Fox, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sounded less optimistic a deal would be reached soon and said, "It's not close."
The Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched several attacks on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting about 250 more. Of the hostages, 97 remain in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliation against Hamas in Gaza has since killed over 40,800 people there, according to the local Hamas-run Health Ministry. Over 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip — nearly the entire population — have been displaced while key infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and housing remains in shambles.
Fighting in the occupied West Bank and along the Israel-Lebanon border heightened fears the conflict could expand.
Israel, the United States, Germany and several other countries classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
