ESpeaking to reporters before leaving the Qatari capital Doha, Blinken said time was running out for a truce over the Gaza Strip and added that the United States rejected a “long-term” Israeli occupation of the Palestinian enclave.
Blinken urged the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to accept the latest US proposal for a truce in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas called the proposal presented to it a reversal of what it had accepted and accused the United States of agreeing to “new conditions” from Israel.
Blinken was in Doha today to press for a truce between Israel and Hamas, after more than ten months of war in the Gaza Strip.
In Doha, the US Secretary of State met with the Minister of State of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi.
At the end of the meeting, both stressed the need for an “ease of tensions in the region”, according to the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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.
Before arriving in Qatar, Antony Blinken was in Israel and Egypt.
Blinken’s meetings in Egypt, which borders the Gaza Strip, and Qatar, which hosts some Hamas leaders in exile, came after Washington’s foreign minister met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and said the leader had accepted a US proposal to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, which he called on to follow suit.
The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist group on Israeli soil, on October 7, 2023, which caused around 1,200 deaths and more than two hundred hostages, 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.
Read Also: Blinken in Doha to push for Middle East truce. The images
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2618405/blinken-diz-que-tempo-para-alcancar-acordo-sobre-gaza-esta-a-esgotar-se
