Blinken calls for Hamas to accept ‘extraordinarily generous’ cease-fire deal

Hamas should accept an “extraordinarily&nbsp, generous” proposal to release Israeli hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a temporary cease- fire, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, speaking at the World Economic Forum ( WEF ) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. &nbsp, &nbsp,

In Cairo, conversations with Egyptian and Qatari authorities are expected to take up the U.S.-led plan on Monday.

” Hamas has before it a plan that is incredibly, extraordinarily nice on the part of Israel”, Blinken said during a board debate at the WEF.

” And Hamas is the only thing standing between the citizens of Gaza and a cease-fire at this very moment.” They have to choose, and they have to consider quickly”, he continued. ” I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision”.

The leadership has not provided any information about the most recent proposal, despite a senior administration official telling reporters on a phone on Friday that the plan allows for the” organized” and “phased” gain of Palestinians to the north of Gaza.

Another reported details of the probable deal include Hamas releasing 33 hostages, especially those considered most resilient, women, the old, sick or injured, and that the length of a cease- fire would be contingent on the number of hostages released. Israeli prisoners apparently expected to be released from Israeli prisons. Various reports suggest that Israel might withdraw its troops from a number of locations.

Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas’s Gaza division, has been critical of by the Biden administration for opposing earlier proposals to end host host hostility, increase humanitarian aid, and returning displaced Palestinians from Gaza’s south to the north of the place.

U. S. leaders have said Hamas’s political leaders engaging in conversations with Egypt and Qatar had made” major improvement”, but that Sinwar, who is in hiding in Gaza, rejects the ideas when he receives them. &nbsp,

” The response that comes from Sinwar individually, the answer is no”, a senior administration official said last year.

Next year, the United States and 17 other nations issued a joint declaration to demand that Hamas accept the most recent cease-fire and hostage-release plan. &nbsp,

About 133 victims who were abducted from Israel on October 7 are still at large and have not been released by Hamas. But its vague how does Hamas really holds after its surprising war on the south of the country, killing people in their communities, at a music event, and taking more than 250 people prisoner.

Hamas has earlier this month informed diplomats that it does not have 40 Jewish hostages it does release as part of a momentary cease-fire agreement, which raises the question of how many hostages are still alive and who is holding them.

More than 100 victims who were freed as part of a week-long cease-fire agreement described being held in caves and at civilian houses. Israel claimed that Hamas held victims in underground hospitals and tissue in Gaza. Other witnesses have claimed that Israeli women victims were sexually assaulted by their captors, and that men have been tortured and beaten up.

A cease-fire agreement, which is expected to last at least for a few weeks, is what the United States wants to achieve in order to stop a possible Israeli offensive against Gaza’s southwestern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Zionists are residing.

The charitable position in Gaza is described as fatal, with tens of thousands killed and injured, hunger leading into hunger, spread of disease and little to no satisfactory house. &nbsp,

Following his sessions in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Blinken will be traveling to Israel this year. He is scheduled to speak with Israeli authorities about the prisoner package and Jewish concerns about Israel’s plans to launch an offensive in Rafah, which is thought to be Hamas’s final redoubt in the remove. &nbsp,

Without a solid strategy for the protection of citizens, Biden officials have stated that the management did not help an Israeli offensive against Rafah.

” We’ve said clearly and for some time now, on Rafah, that in the absence of a plan to ensure that civilians will not be harmed, we ca n’t support a major military operation”, Blinken repeated Monday.

A plan that gives us the assurance that citizens may be properly protected has not yet been seen.