Blinken meets Israeli leaders at 'decisive moment'
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Monday urged Israel and Hamas not to derail negotiations that he said may be a "last opportunity" to secure a Gaza truce and hostage release deal. Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East since Hamas's October 7 attack triggered the war, said he was back in Israel "to get this agreement to the line and ultimately over the line." "This is a decisive moment – probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security," Blinken said as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv. The US secretary of state later met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and is due to travel on Tuesday to Egypt where ceasefire talks are expected to resume this week. Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for delays in reaching a truce accord that diplomats say could help avert a wider conflagration in the Middle East. "We're working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity," Blinken said. "It is time for it to get done. It's also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process." Months of on-off negotiations with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have failed to produce an agreement. Ahead of talks in Qatar last week, Hamas called on mediators to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden, rather than hold more negotiations. Biden said on Sunday that a ceasefire was "still possible" and that the United States was "not giving up." Late on Sunday, hours after Blinken had landed in the city, there was a bombing in Tel Aviv that was later claimed by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. One person – the bomber according to Israeli media – was killed and another wounded. The groups threatened to carry out more such attacks in Israel "as long as the occupation's massacres, the displacement of civilians and the policy of assassinations continue." Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the bombing could have been more serious but the assailant detonated the explosives before managing to reach a more heavily populated area. It came as Israel and Hamas traded blame for delays in reaching a truce deal. After the Qatar meeting last week, the United States submitted what mediators called a "bridging proposal," which Hamas on Sunday said "responds to Netanyahu's conditions" and includes terms that the Palestinian group would not accept. Hamas insisted on "a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip," saying Netanyahu wanted to keep Israeli forces at several strategic locations. Netanyahu was "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators," the Palestinian movement said in a statement. Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order for an agreement to be reached. On Sunday Netanyahu said that Hamas "remains obstinate" and must be pressured, a day after his office said Israeli negotiators had expressed "cautious optimism" about reaching a deal. US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators also reported progress. Far-right members crucial to the prime minister's governing coalition oppose any truce. The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally of Israeli official figures. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 40,139 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths. Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 111 are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. The plan announced by Biden at the end of May would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks while Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters Gaza. Violence raged on in Gaza and along the Israel-Lebanon border where Israeli forces and Hamas's Iran-backed ally Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire throughout the war. On Monday, an Israeli soldier and two Hezbollah fighters were killed in cross-border clashes, the Israeli military and the Lebanese militant group said. In southern Gaza, a medical source said three people were killed in Abassan village and witnesses reported Israeli air strikes near the Islamic University in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said troops were operating in southern and central Gaza, and that the air force "struck over 45 terrorist targets" across the territory over the past day. It later said that it had "expanded" operations in Khan Younis and the outskirts of Deir el-Balah. A medical source said a baby girl was killed and several women wounded in air strikes west of Khan Younis. The fighting has devastated Gaza. A video posted to social media by a UN official showed a convoy passing scenes of utter destruction with almost every building reduced to rubble and the few still standing badly damaged. (AFP)