US pushes for Gaza truce as Israel and Hamas trade blame

BBC:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Israel in his latest effort to push for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza.

His ninth trip to the region since the war began in October comes days after the US presented a modified proposal aimed at bridging long-standing gaps between the two sides.

The US has expressed optimism about a deal since talks resumed in Doha last week, but Hamas says suggestions of progress are an “illusion”.

Differences are said to include whether Israeli troops will be required to withdraw fully from the Gaza Strip, as Hamas insists.

Mr Blinken will attempt to maintain pressure on the Israeli leader when they meet on Monday – he will say that now is the moment to drop any more attempts to squeeze out last concessions and take a deal.

On the way here one senior US official was using phrases including a critical moment and an inflection point.

The Americans hope they can get this over the finish line perhaps as soon as this time next week.

But that level of optimism is not shared by the Israeli leadership or Hamas.

Each accuses the other of obstinate cynicism, and blocking a deal.

In a statement on Sunday, Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of putting “obstacles” in the way of an agreement and “setting new conditions and demands” with the aim of “prolonging the war”.

It added it holds him “fully responsible” for thwarting mediators’ efforts and “obstructing an agreement”.

A Hamas source earliertold Saudi media that the proposals include the IDF maintaining a reduced presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

But Israeli sources have told the Times of Israel that other procedures along the border could compensate for an Israeli withdrawal from the area in the first phase of the deal.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

A ceasefire deal agreed in November saw Hamas release 105 of the hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and the freeing of some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Israel says 111 hostages are still being held, 39 of whom are presumed dead.