Once again, US, Israel’s staunch ally, has expressed confidence that a ceasefire deal in Gaza would come together.
The administration of United States President Joe Biden, which is mediating the talks, is hoping for a last-minute breakthrough in the talks before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, 2025.
However, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken stated that it may take longer, possibly after President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20, 2025.
Blinken, who tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully in 2024 to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, said that the Biden administration “will work every minute of every day” until the end of its term to secure a hostage deal.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to Seoul, Blinken voiced, “We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks.”
“If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later.
“When it does, it will be on the basis of the plan that President Biden put forward and that virtually the entire world supports.”
Antony Blinken
President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on January 20, has vowed even stronger support for Israel and has warned Hamas of “hell to pay” if it does not free hostages seized in the October 7, 2023, attack.
Blinken noted that there had been an “intensified engagement” by Hamas on reaching a deal, but that it was not yet complete.
“We need Hamas to make the final necessary decisions to complete the agreement and to fundamentally change the circumstance for the hostages, getting them out, for people in Gaza, bringing them relief, and for the region as a whole, creating an opportunity to actually move forward to something better.”
Antony Blinken
Hamas Poised To Free 34 Hostages
Meanwhile, a Hamas official was reported as saying that the group was ready to free 34 hostages as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.
The official noted that the Palestinian group, which governs the Gaza Strip, has approved the release of the captives “as part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal.”
The initial swap would include all women, children, elderly people and sick captives being held in Gaza. Hamas needed time to determine their condition, the official said, adding, “Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead.”
The official asserted that the group needs a week of calm to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead.
A news agency cited an unnamed Hamas official as saying that a ceasefire deal would depend on Israel agreeing to a permanent ceasefire and its withdrawal from Gaza.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Hamas had yet to provide a list of captives for potential release.
The reports come as negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement are under way in Qatar.
However, Israel on Sunday continued to bombard Gaza, with its military claiming to have struck more than 100 “terror targets” in the enclave over the weekend.
Gaza health officials said that Israeli strikes had killed more than 100 Palestinians, including five people at a house in the Nuseirat camp and five at a police station in Khan Younis.
More than 45,800 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on the country.
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