Blinken says ‘now is the time’ for hostage deal

Antony Blinken meets protesters in Israel who are calling for the release of hostages – Oded Balilty/AP

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has said the “time is now” for a ceasefire deal as details of the draft under discussion were leaked.

The United States’ top diplomat met Israeli officials on Wednesday at a pivotal moment for the 133 Israeli hostages abducted into Gaza and with a potential invasion of the southern city of Rafah looming.

Mr Blinken said Washington is “determined to get a ceasefire that brings the hostages home, and get it now”.

“The only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” he said after meeting the president of Israel. “There is a proposal on the table. And as we’ve said: no delays, no excuses. The time is now.”

A Hamas spokesman on Wednesday criticised Mr Blinken’s comments, saying they were intended to put pressure on the group and absolve Israel of responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the terrorist group is still studying the proposal.

Talks: Antony Blinken meets Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president – Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS

Mr Blinken later on Wednesday sat down with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in a private meeting in Jerusalem, with their respective staff.

During the meeting, which lasted about two-and-a-half hours, Mr Netanyahu told the visiting US official that he will not accept a deal that will include ending the war, US news site Axios reported.

With hopes running high in Israel of a breakthrough in the long-running hostage negotiations, dozens of people rallied outside Mr Blinken’s hotel in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning, urging him to get a deal done to free them.

The US Secretary of State came out to the protesters after one of his meetings, telling them Washington “will not rest until everyone – man, woman, soldier, civilian, young, old – is back home”.

“Hamas needs to say ‘yes’ and needs to get this done,” he told the crowds.

Mr Blinken speaks to a man during the demonstration in Tel Aviv – Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS

Mr Blinken also sat down with the relatives of American or dual American citizens in Hamas captivity later on Wednesday.

The outline of the proposal, published by the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar on Wednesday, shows a three-stage plan for stopping the hostilities in Gaza, where over 34,000 people have already died according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and freeing the Israeli hostages.

Under the first stage of the deal, which is expected to last 40 days, Hamas is supposed to release 33 vulnerable hostages. In exchange, Israeli forces in Gaza will cease fire and “allow the movement of humanitarian aid and the return of civilians to their homes”.

For every released hostage, Israel will release 20 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas will provide a list of the prisoners in Israeli jails it would like to receive but Israel will be able to veto them.

From Day 16 of the truce, Israel and Hamas are expected to launch talks with the aim of creating “sustainable calm” in Gaza, a euphemism that suits the Israeli government, which has refused to publicly say it is willing to stop the war.

At this stage, talks in Cairo appear to be stalled on the issue of the nature of the ceasefire.

As Israeli opinion shifts towards a ceasefire deal, military preparations have continued for a push on Rafah – MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

Israel insists the war cannot end before it fully eradicates Hamas, which is why it wants to launch its planned invasion of Rafah in the south.

Hamas, however, has repeatedly indicated that it sees no point in agreeing to a deal that does not provide for a lasting truce.

On Wednesday it asked Egyptian and Qatari mediators to provide clarity on the terms of the latest ceasefire proposal being discussed, an unnamed Egyptian official told the Associated Press.

The terrorist group reportedly seeks “clear terms of the unconditional return of displaced people to the north of Gaza” and assurances that the initial stage of the ceasefire will be followed by another stage that could include a gradual and then complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

The current proposal apparently does not lay out details for the return of Palestinians to the north of Gaza.

Israelis support any deal to free hostages

Public opinion in Israel now favours any deal to free the hostages, especially after Hamas last released the first proof-of-life video for 24-year-old Hersch Goldberg-Polin, who has not been seen or heard from since his capture on Oct 7.

A new opinion poll commissioned by public broadcaster Kan on Wednesday showed 54 per cent of Israelis favour the deal that would offer Hamas a temporary ceasefire for the release of at least some hostages.

When asked about a potential agreement that would obligate Israel to stop the war and release “thousands of terrorists” in return for the release of all hostages, some 47 per cent of Israelis said they would support it, with a third of them against and the rest undecided.

The poll came amid widespread uproar in Israel over the comments of Orit Strock, the hard-Right settlements minister, who told a local radio station on Wednesday morning that Israel should not throw the war “in a trash bin” to “save 22 or 33 people – I don’t know how many”.

Echoing her allies Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, who on Tuesday threatened to leave the governing coalition if the hostage deal is approved, Ms Strock told Army Radio that Mr Netanyahu’s “government has no right to exist” if it accepts the agreement.

Speculation is rife that Israel will cancel its planned invasion of Rafah, the only big city in Gaza largely unaffected by fighting, if the deal can be done.

Relatives of several hostages in Hamas captivity condemned the comments of Ms Strock and other hard-Right allies of Mr Netanyahu as “extremist,” saying that they were trampling on the plight of the hostages and their families.

Shir Siegel, whose father Keith was kidnapped from the kibbutz of Kfar Aza and paraded in a recent proof-of-life video, said on Wednesday the minister’s comments show “disrespect to human life in the highest degree… and an assault on the values I grew up on”.

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