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The world awaits a response from the Hamas leader, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said Tuesday, a day after the United Nations Security Council approved a proposed U.S.-backed ceasefire in Gaza.
Placing the blame directly on Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Mr. Blinken asked reporters in Tel Aviv whether the group would act in the best interests of the Palestinian people by accepting the deal. He said it would at least stop the fighting and allow more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.
Or, he said, Hamas is “taking care of one person,” Mr. Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding underground in Gaza, while the people he claims to represent continue to suffer in a crossfire of his own making.
President Biden has described the U.S.-backed ceasefire plan as originally proposed by Israel last month, but Israeli officials have not publicly supported it or said whether they would honor the agreement if Hamas accepted it.
“I think there is strong agreement again to move forward with the proposal,” Blinken said after meeting with senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday.
“But now it’s really just up to one person.” He added, referring to Mr. Sinwar.
Mr. Blinken said he had received explicit assurances from Mr. Netanyahu that he would continue to support the proposal, despite the doubts the Israeli leader sowed last week when he called the idea of a permanent cease-fire, which Hamas had called essential, “essential.” Non-starter.” UN resolution
Asked how the differences could be reconciled, Mr. Blinken emphasized the value of achieving an immediate ceasefire in the first phase of a proposed three-phase agreement. “The commitment to agree to the proposal is to pursue a lasting ceasefire,” he said. “But that needs to be negotiated.”
In addition to an immediate ceasefire, the first phase of the agreement calls for the release of all hostages held in Gaza, the repatriation of Gaza refugees to their homes, and full hostage protection in return for larger numbers of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. I’m doing it. Withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory.
The second phase calls for a permanent ceasefire agreed upon by both sides. The third phase will consist of a multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza and the repatriation of the remains of the dead hostages.
Mr. Blinken spoke from the terrace of a beachfront hotel in Tel Aviv as he watched several relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Some held signs with photos of loved ones and the words “Bring Them Home.”
Blinken, on the second day of his eighth trip to the Middle East since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, said Monday’s unanimous Security Council vote was a sign that Hamas would be isolated if it did not agree to the proposed deal. President Biden supported this in a speech on May 31.
“The United Nations Security Council, on behalf of virtually the entire international community, has made it as clear as possible that this is exactly what the world is looking for,” Mr. Blinken said.
Hamas said in a statement on Monday that it “welcomes the inclusion of a Security Council resolution confirming a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, complete withdrawal, prisoner exchange, reconstruction and return of displaced people to their territory.” residence, denying any change or decline in the population of the Gaza Strip area, and providing the necessary support to our people in the Strip.”
Mr. Blinken called the statement “a hopeful sign.” But he added that what mattered was “what the Hamas leadership in Gaza, namely Mr. Sinwar, said.”
Mr. Blinken spoke to reporters before leaving for Amman, Jordan, where he was scheduled to attend a conference on humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. He also met Tuesday morning with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, who on Sunday pulled his centrist party out of Israel’s emergency war government in protest of Netanyahu’s handling of the war.
