Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged “clear nonstarters” in Hamas’s counterproposal for an extended ceasefire between the Gaza-based U.S.-designated terrorist group and Israel.
He was able to discuss Hamas’s counteroffer with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, who responded much more negatively than President Joe Biden’s top diplomat.
“We do think it creates space for agreement to be reached,” Blinken said during a press conference in Tel Aviv. “And we will work at that relentlessly.”
“We’ve looked very carefully at what came back from Hamas, and there are clearly nonstarters in what [Hamas] put forward. But we also see space in what came back to pursue negotiations, to see if we can get to an agreement. And that’s what we intend to do,” he explained. “And I’m not going to speak for Israel or anyone involved, but again, we believe the space is there, and we believe that we should pursue it.”
Hamas’s proposal was a three-stage plan that would last 4 1/2 months. Their plan stipulates, among other things, that in exchange for the release of the roughly 130 hostages still in Hamas’s custody, Israel would release hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including some whom they could choose, including senior terrorists. It also calls for Israeli forces to initially withdraw from Gaza population centers and, during the second phase, to withdraw altogether.
Netanyahu called their offer “delusional” and said Israeli forces would not stop their war until they achieved an “absolute victory.”
One of Israel’s main contentions, which Blinken said he agrees with, is that Hamas cannot remain in leadership in Gaza. But the two allies have disagreed on who should govern the strip after the war concludes.
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Blinken also repeated a frequent request from the administration: the need to do more to limit a growing death toll and a worsening humanitarian situation in the enclave.
Hamas took more than 240 people hostage during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, which included the killing of roughly 1,200 people as well, while approximately 136 remain in Gaza four months later. Israeli military officials acknowledged on Tuesday that more than 30 hostages still in the Gaza Strip have already been killed, while another 20 others could have been killed as well.
