Blinken Warns Time Running Out to Save Last Israeli Hostages in Gaza

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that now is “maybe the last” opportunity to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement that would return hostages held by Hamas and bring relief to Palestinian suffering.

Blinken made the comments while visiting Israel on Monday in his ninth urgent mission to the Middle East since the conflict began.

His visit comes days after mediators, including the United States, expressed renewed optimism a deal was near, but Hamas has voiced deep dissatisfaction with the latest proposal and Israel has said there were areas it was unwilling to compromise on.

“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 opened talks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.

A U.S. official said on Friday that mediators were preparing to implement a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-swap deal that would end fighting in the region.

The comments followed two days of talks with mediators from Qatar, Egypt and America in Qatar’s capital city of Doha.

Hamas has shown reservation about the deal however.

A senior Hamas official told Newsweek that the White House was offering an overly positive portrayal of the latest ceasefire talks on Gaza in a bid to ease regional tensions ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Basem Naim, a spokesperson and former health minister of Hamas, argued Biden is “buying time” on Gaza talks to ease tensions before the election.

Naim echoed the words of fellow spokesperson Sami Abu Zahri, who told Reuters earlier Friday that “the American administration is trying to spread a false positive atmosphere and is not serious about stopping the war.”

He also suggested to Newsweek that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was deliberately blocking the ceasefire deal.

He said instead that Netanyahu was seeking to expand the conflict across the region.

In latest reports, an Israeli airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday resulted in the deaths of two senior Hamas militants, according to a joint statement from the Israel Security Agency and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

On Thursday, in a separate incident, Israeli settlers killed at least one Palestinian in an attack on a village near the West Bank city of Qalqilya. This incident was condemned by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

Last week, Blinken approved a $20 billion arms deal for Israel including more than 50 F-15 fighter jets and nearly 33,000 tank cartridges.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the State Department said in a statement about the sale. “This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives.”