The US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said that the endorsement by Hamas officials of the UN Security Council’s ceasefire resolution is a “hopeful sign” in the effort to get a truce deal over the line – but that the Hamas leadership inside Gaza needs to sign it off.
The resolution, backed by 14 of the 15 Security Council members – with Russia abstaining – backs a US proposal setting out conditions for a “full and complete ceasefire”, the release of hostages held by Hamas, and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners.
Mr Blinken urged Hamas to accept the deal, and said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reaffirmed his commitment to the proposal on Monday. Mr Netanyahu has taken a tough stance in public over a deal, saying that Hamas needs to be destroyed – having faced pressure from his hardline government’s coalition allies to continue the war.
Mr Blinken said the response of Hamas to the UN vote was a “hopeful sign”, but that mediators are still awaiting word from the group’s leaders in Gaza. Qatari and Egyptian mediators have not received formal replies from Hamas or Israel to the UN-backed truce proposal, an official close to the talks told reporters.
“That’s what counts. And that’s what we don’t have yet. And that’s why I say we’re waiting to see it. Everyone has said yes, except for Hamas,” Mr Blinken said.
On Tuesday, an Israeli government official said the plan would allow its military to achieve all of its objectives before ending the conflict.
“Israel will not end the war before achieving all its war objectives: destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, freeing all the hostages, and ensuring Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel in the future.
“The proposal presented enables Israel to achieve these goals, and Israel will indeed do so,” said the official, who wasn’t named.
Mr Blinken’s latest visit to the region – his eighth since Hamas’s 7 October attack on southern Israel ignited the war – is focused on rallying support for the ceasefire proposal, boosting the entry of humanitarian aid, and advancing post-war plans for Gaza’s governance.
The war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while taking around 250 people hostage.
Mr Blinken met privately with families of the hostages in Israel, as well as demonstrators outside a hotel who were calling for a ceasefire deal, and later travelled on to Jordan, where he attended a Gaza aid conference and announced more than $400m (£314m) in additional aid for Palestinians in Gaza and the wider region.
Mr Blinken was also expected to visit Qatar, which along with Egypt has served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas. Mr Blinken was in Cairo earlier on Monday.
The proposal, announced by Mr Biden last month, consists of a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the rest of the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The group is still holding around 120 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
More than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire last year, in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The eight-month war has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and has driven some 80 per cent of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.
