Blinken returns to Egypt for talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip

2024-09-17 07:36:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Egypt on Tuesday amid ongoing efforts to engage key regional partners in the Middle East to present a revised proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday that "We continue to engage with our partners in the region, particularly Egypt and Qatar, on what that proposal will contain so that the parties can reach a final agreement .”

The United States has not given a timeline for the revised proposal, although officials have said it will be presented soon. The proposal aims to resolve key issues that have caused months of impasse in talks brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, aimed at securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages seized by Hamas at the start of the war on October 7. 2023.

In Cairo, Mr. Blinken will co-chair the opening session of the US-Egypt Strategic Dialogue with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. Secretary Blinken will also meet with Egyptian leaders to discuss efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, relief of the suffering of Palestinian civilians and regional security, spokesman Miller said.

However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken's tenth trip to the Middle East since October 7, 2023, does not include a stop in Israel for talks with its leaders.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Blinken met with Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid. After the meeting at the State Department, Mr. Lapid told reporters that Israel needs an agreement to release the hostages and end the war in the Gaza Strip, stressing that no political process or obstacle should affect reaching an agreement. Mr. Lapid urged the United States not to allow Hamas to "avoid reaching an agreement on the release of the hostages."

"Israel as a nation will not recover unless we return the remaining hostages to the country. This is essential for our existence", said Mr. Lapid after the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials announced that an Israeli airstrike killed at least 16 people on Monday, including five women and four children.

The attack destroyed a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 10 people, including four women and two children. Another attack on a house in Gaza City killed six people, including a woman and two children, according to Civil Defense, a group of emergency workers operating under the management of the Hamas government.

The number of Palestinians killed, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, has reached over 41,000. This ministry, led by Hamas, does not distinguish between civilians and militants killed, but says that according to its data, more than half of those killed are women and children. Israel says it has killed 17,000 militants, but has offered no proof.

The Hamas-Israel war began on October 7, 2023, following an attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 250. Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States, Britain, the European Union and a number of other Western countries./ Voa