Jerusalem, Aug 19 (EFE).- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that the latest proposed ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas may be the last chance to rescue the remaining Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.
This is a decisive moment — probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire,” said the US’ top diplomat during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.
Blinken, on his ninth visit to Israel since the war broke out in October last year, was expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other Israeli officials to try to set up negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, following two days of talks in Doha on the details of the agreement.
Blinken spoke of the importance of a deal at the earliest, and highlighted the deployment of US forces in the region to try to dissuade Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah from attacking Israel, which could put negotiations at risk.
The Israeli president, for his part, thanked the US for its and the other mediating countries, Egypt and Qatar, for their efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement that would allow the hostages to be released.
“There is no greater humanitarian objective, and there’s no greater humanitarian cause, than bringing back our hostages,” Herzog said.
Nevertheless, the Israeli offensive in Gaza has continued, and on Sunday the troops extended their operations to parts of Khan Younis (south) and, for the first time, the town of Deir al-Balah (center), where thousands of Gazans have taken refuge since the offensive began at Rafah, the southernmost settlement in Gaza.
More than 40,000 people have been killed and 92,000 injured in the Palestinian enclave after 10 months of Israeli offensive, according to Gazan health authorities, as survivors remain cramped in a handful of “humanitarian zones” without access to running water or electricity, and under the constant threat of Israeli bombings. EFE
jdg/sc
