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Just hours ago, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Middle East Tour Aims to achieve a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken called on Hamas to urgently accept a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal while openly sparring with Israel over its future presence in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“Time is of the essence,” Blinken said before flying out of Doha, following visits to Qatar, Egypt and Israel on his ninth regional trip aimed at stopping the Gaza war.
“It has to be done and it has to be done in the next few days and we will do everything we can to get it done,” he said of the ceasefire proposal.
The United States has raised the idea of bridging the divide and, through Qatar and Egypt, has urged Hamas to return to Cairo talks this week.
But a day after Blinken said U.S. ally Israel had joined the talks, Israeli media quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying they disagreed on a key sticking point.
Netanyahu has insisted that Israel maintain control of the Philadelphia Corridor, a border between Gaza and Egypt that Israeli forces seized from Hamas, which Israel says relies on secret tunnels to move weapons.
key
Blinken said Israel had agreed on a “timetable and location” for its withdrawal from Gaza.
Asked about Netanyahu’s comments, Blinken said the United States had “made clear that it does not accept any prolonged Israeli occupation of Gaza” since the conflict began.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu’s “extreme rhetoric” would not help reach a ceasefire agreement.
Blinken acknowledged that differences exist and called on Israel and Hamas to show “maximum flexibility.”
Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, is furious about Israel’s border occupation.
Hamas said it was “eager for a ceasefire agreement” but protested against Israel’s “new conditions” in the latest US proposal.
On the ground, Gaza was again hit by air strikes, AFP reporters, emergency workers and witnesses said.
The Israeli military said it struck about 30 targets across Gaza and “eliminated dozens” of militants.
The United Nations refugee agency for Palestinian refugees says death appears to be “the only certainty” for Gaza’s 2.4 million refugees as they cannot escape Israel’s bombardment.
“There is absolutely no place that is safe,” said Louise Watridge, a spokesman for UNRWA. “People … feel like they are being chased around.”
“Death seems to be the only certainty” she told AFP television.
As tensions escalated, Lebanon’s health ministry said earlier that an Israeli strike in the east of the country had killed one person and wounded 20 people, hours after Four people died in the south.
Cross-border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah occur almost daily, but fears of a wider crisis grew when Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was accused of serious crimes. Killed while visiting Tehran Christmas Day 31st.
Iran has vowed to retaliate and accused Israel of being responsible for the assassination but has so far refrained from action as the United States has sent more troops to Gaza and warned that a wider war could derail prospects for a ceasefire in Gaza.
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