The Hamas militant group in Gaza called on Washington on Thursday, June 13, to "pressure" Israel to accept a permanent ceasefire in the territory, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wraps up a Mideast tour. "He continues to talk about Israel's agreement of the latest (ceasefire) proposal, but we have not heard any Israeli official speak out on this," Hamas said in a statement, urging Blinken to put "direct pressure" on Israel.
The American Secretary of State said Wednesday that a truce and hostage release deal to end the Gaza war was still possible, as deadly fighting rocked the Palestinian territory. Blinken, in Doha for the last stop of a tour to promote President Joe Biden's Gaza ceasefire roadmap, said the United States would work with regional partners to "close the deal".
Hamas submitted late Tuesday its response to mediators Qatar and Egypt, and Blinken said some of the proposed amendments "are workable and some are not". A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said it sought "a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal" of Israeli troops from Gaza, demands rejected by Israel.
The three-stage plan, endorsed by the UN Security Council and Arab powers, includes a six-week ceasefire, a hostage-prisoner exchange and Gaza's internationally-backed reconstruction.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said "many" of Hamas's demands were "minor and not unanticipated", while "others differ more substantively from what was outlined in the UN Security Council resolution". Blinken said Israel was behind the plan, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government has far-right members strongly opposed to the deal, has yet to formally endorse it.
Blinken expressed hopes that gaps could be closed. "We have to see... over the course of the coming days whether those gaps are bridgeable," he said.
As the bloody Gaza war rages into its ninth month, deadly violence has intensified along Israel's northern border with Lebanon. An Israeli strike on Tuesday killed a Hezbollah commander described by a Lebanese military source as the Shiite Muslim group's "most important" fighter killed in near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah since the Gaza war erupted.
On Wednesday, three waves of around 150 rockets and missiles filled the sky over northern Israel, according to the military, reporting fires but no casualties. Hezbollah also claimed more than 10 other attacks on the Israeli military, including one with drones.
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine threatened to "increase the intensity, strength, quantity and quality of our attacks". Netanyahu warned last week that the army was "prepared for a very intense operation" to "restore security to the north".