Antony Blinken will head to Israel on Friday to push for a ceasefire ahead of a key UN vote on the US’ ceasefire resolution.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Israel on Friday to press for a truce in Gaza, ahead of a key UN Security Council vote on a US draft resolution on the need for an “immediate” ceasefire.
The United States announced that it would submit a draft to the Security Council on the need for an “immediate ceasefire as part of a hostage deal.”
The US resolution “will unequivocally support ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a hostage deal… we will be bringing this resolution for a vote on Friday morning,” Nate Evans, spokesman for US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said in a statement.
After blocking an Algerian draft resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza at the end of February, US officials have been negotiating an alternative text focusing on support for a six-week truce in exchange for the release of hostages.
After talks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Blinken flies to Israel, his sixth trip to the region since the war began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
Fighting in Gaza this week centered around Al-Shifa hospital, the besieged territory’s largest hospital, and Israel vowed to launch a new ground assault in overcrowded Rafah in the south.
Israel said that its spy chief would also head back to Qatar on Friday for more truce talks with US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators who are trying to negotiate a six-week pause.
The talks are focused on securing a truce agreement, hinged on the release of hostages held by Hamas militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody and the delivery of more aid to Gaza, where famine is threatening its 2.4 million people.
Blinken told reporters in Cairo on Thursday that “gaps are narrowing” and that the United States was “continuing to push for an agreement in Doha.”
“It’s difficult to get there, but I believe it is still possible,” Blinken said.
However, a Hamas official said that Israel’s response to the group’s latest proposal had been “largely negative.”
Blinken warned that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city where around 1.5 million people are hemmed in by the Egyptian border, would be “a mistake.”
“There is no place for the civilians amassed in Rafah to get out of harm’s way,” Blinken said.
“There is a better way to deal with the ongoing threat posed by Hamas.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that a ground incursion is the only way to root out Hamas, despite warnings by Blinken, the European Union, which called on Thursday for an “immediate humanitarian pause” in Gaza, and others.
With AFP
