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Seeking elusive Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Blinken says Gaza truce window closing fast
- ‘It is time for it to get done’, said the top US diplomat on his ninth visit to the region since the war began
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Israel to push for a Gaza truce, said on Monday ongoing negotiations were “maybe the last” chance to reach an agreement to end the war.
“This is a decisive moment – probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security,” Blinken said as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
The top US diplomat said President Joe Biden had sent him “to get this agreement to the line and ultimately over the line”.
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“It is time for it to get done. It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process,” Blinken said.
“We’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity.”
Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, is scheduled to meet later on Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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