U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept the latest ceasefire proposal, which he described as “extraordinarily generous” for them.
The U.S. is among a group of countries, including Qatar and Egypt, that have acted as mediators for months between Israel and Hamas but have been unable to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire deal dating back to December, after the conclusion of a weeklong ceasefire.
“Hamas has a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel and they have to decide quickly, and I’m hopeful they will make the right decision and we can have a fundamental change in the dynamic,” Blinken said on Monday in Riyadh at the World Economic Forum.
Blinken emphasized Hamas needed to respond quickly due to Israel’s intention to carry out full-scale military operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have fled during the war. It’s also Hamas’s, the terrorist organization responsible for the deadly Oct. 7 attack that prompted Israel’s military response, last remaining stronghold in Gaza.
The secretary arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the first stop on his latest trip to the Middle East where he will meet with regional leaders to discuss varying aspects of the current dynamics in the region, including the ceasefire proposal, the Israeli hostages, potential Israeli-Saudi normalization, as well as Iran’s continued threat to peace and security in the region.
Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister, said he was “hopeful” about the latest proposal and said it has “taken into account the positions of both sides.”
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who is also in Riyadh, also described the proposal as “very generous,” and said it includes a 40-day ceasefire and could include the release of “potentially thousands” of Palestinians held in Israeli detention, according to the Washington Post. The first ceasefire deal, which lasted a week, included a provision forcing Israel to release three Palestinians for every Israeli hostage who was released.
The U.S. has said it does not support Israel carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah due to concerns of significant civilian casualties, and does not believe Israel has done enough planning to safely evacuate the civilians in Rafah, in part due to the significant infrastructure damage throughout the rest of the Gaza Strip.
President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Sunday, where Biden “reiterated his clear position” against a Rafah operation, according to a White House readout.
Getting Hamas to agree to a ceasefire, even one that is temporary, would hold off an Israeli invasion of Rafah, though the terrorist group’s leaders have rejected recent proposals.
“If we can get that in place, then that gives you six weeks of peace,” U.S. National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said on ABC. “It gives you no fighting for six weeks and that includes no fighting in Rafah. And what we’re hoping is that after six weeks of a temporary ceasefire, we can maybe get something more enduring in place.”
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The current proposal on the table reportedly includes Israeli concessions compared to the previous offer. Israeli leaders had demanded Hamas release 40 of the roughly 130 hostages they continue to hold since Oct. 7, though the current deal would only call for the release of 33 people, according to the New York Times.
Two other obstacles that Israel and Hamas disagree on are whether Palestinians who lived in northern Gaza but fled south in the war will be allowed to return home, as well as how long the stoppage in fighting would last. Hamas wants Palestinians to be able to return freely to the north and wants to see the cessation of fighting be indefinite. Israel has capitulated on the first but not the second.