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Blinken ends Middle East visit without Gaza ceasefire deal

2024-08-21 08:45:11, Kosova & Bota CNA

Blinken ends Middle East visit without Gaza ceasefire deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press conference in Tel Aviv on August 19, 2024. Source: AP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza during his visit to the Middle East. But the top American diplomat ended his trip to the region without an agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Blinken and mediators from Egypt and Qatar have pinned their hopes on a "compromise" proposal presented by the US aimed at narrowing differences between Israel and Hamas in the 10-month war, after negotiations ended last week without an agreement.

The agreement "must be made and must be reached in the following days. We will do everything we can" to make that happen, Blinken told reporters in Doha on Tuesday, before departing for Washington.

A senior US administration official traveling with Blinken said the US expects ceasefire talks to continue this week.

On Tuesday, Blinken stayed in Egypt, where he held talks with President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi, and then visited Qatar.

On Monday he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After the meeting with him, Blinken said that Israel has accepted the proposal and called on Hamas to accept it as well. The radical Palestinian group has not rejected the proposal explicitly, but has said that the latest proposal undoes the conditions on which the parties have previously agreed.

Blinken was asked in Qatar about the conditions for the withdrawal of Israeli troops, based on a ceasefire agreement. He was asked to comment on reports that Netanyahu has said he could persuade Blinken to allow Israel to keep troops in the Philadelphia Corridor between Egypt and Gaza.

"The US does not accept a long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel," said Blinken. "More specifically, the agreement is clear regarding the time and locations of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and Israel has agreed to this," he added.

Both Hamas and Egypt oppose the idea of ??Israel keeping troops in the Philadelphia Corridor, but Netanyahu has insisted that the troops are needed to stop arms being smuggled into Gaza.

"The cease-fire in Gaza should be the start of a wider international recognition of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution, as this is a guarantee for stability in the region," said Sisi after the meeting with Blinken.

Blinken said the latest deal proposal "maybe the best, maybe the last chance."

The US and mediators are aiming to reach an agreement to end the war that began on October 7, after Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and kidnapping nearly 250 others. As a result of the Israeli offensive, more than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza./ REL