US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his trip to the Middle East without any tangible results for a ceasefire. Despite intensive efforts, there is still no agreement between Israel and Hamas.
“We need to get a deal in the coming days and we will do everything we can to get it across the finish line,” Blinken said Wednesday night before leaving for Washington.
The battle over the US proposal will continue this week
A senior U.S. administration official said he expected the U.S.-Egypt-Qatar-led mediation talks to resume this week. The U.S. has presented a proposal aimed at helping bridge longstanding differences between Israel and the radical Islamist Hamas.
Blinken said Monday after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel has accepted the proposal. Now Hamas must do the same. It could be the last chance for a resolution to the conflict.
The bottleneck of the border between Egypt and Gaza
Hamas has not explicitly rejected the US proposal, but said it would renege on previously agreed terms. The main dispute is over Israel’s continued military presence in the Gaza Strip, especially along the border with Egypt. The freedom of movement of Palestinians within the area and the identity and number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages are also controversial issues.
Egypt is focused on a security mechanism for the Philadelphia Corridor, the narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza that Israeli forces captured in May. Both Hamas and Egypt oppose Israel keeping troops there. Netanyahu insists that the presence of Israeli troops on the border is necessary to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.
International presence in the Philadelphia Corridor?
Egyptian security sources said the US had proposed an international presence in the Philadelphia corridor. For the government in Cairo, this could therefore be acceptable if such an operation were limited to a maximum of six months. “The ceasefire in Gaza must be the beginning of broader international recognition of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution, as this is the fundamental guarantee of stability in the region,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said after a speech. Meeting with Blinken.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
