O The head of US diplomacy is expected to meet with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, as part of a trip that took him to Israel and Egypt.
The United States, along with Qatar and Egypt, is mediating in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, as both sides signaled that challenges to an agreement remain.
Hamas called the latest proposal presented to it a reversal of what it had agreed to and accused the United States of agreeing to “new conditions” from Israel. There was no immediate response from the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has meanwhile met with groups of families of dead soldiers and hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
These groups, which oppose a ceasefire agreement, said Netanyahu told them that Israel would not abandon two strategic corridors in the enclave, whose control by Tel Aviv forces has been a stumbling block in negotiations.
Netanyahu’s office did not comment on the report.
A senior US official, quoted on condition of anonymity by the Associated Press, said alleged comments by Netanyahu that he told Blinken that Israel would never leave the Philadelphia and Netzarim corridors were “totally false.”
But another US official, quoted by the Agence France Presse (AFP), criticised statements attributed to the Israeli prime minister about controlling the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, considering that they were “not constructive”, in the midst of truce negotiations.
“Maximalist statements like these are not constructive in reaching a ceasefire agreement,” said the official accompanying the US secretary of state on his trip to the Middle East, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
Netanyahu’s meeting with the families came as the Israeli military said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli soil that sparked the current war.
In opposition to the groups that met with the Israeli leader today, many other family members and citizens are pressuring Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire with a view to returning the remaining hostages.
Blinken’s meetings in Egypt, which borders the Gaza Strip, and Qatar, which hosts some Hamas leaders in exile, come after Washington’s foreign minister met with Netanyahu on Monday and said the Israeli leader had accepted a US proposal to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, which he called on to follow suit.
The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist group on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 people dead and more than two hundred people taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Following the Hamas attack, Israel launched a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has already caused more than 40,000 deaths, mostly civilians, and a humanitarian disaster, destabilizing the entire Middle East region.
See images of Blinken’s arrival in the gallery above.
Read Also: Middle East. Egyptian president insists on quick ceasefire
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2618371/blinken-em-doha-para-pressionar-treguas-no-medio-oriente-as-imagens
