US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Wednesday for meetings with key government officials to press for a “humanitarian truce” as US international and domestic pressure mounts to end the conflict in Gaza.
The stakes on a crucial day of discussions in Tel Aviv became higher following news on Tuesday that Hamas had responded to a proposal aimed at securing the freedom of the remaining hostages held by the terror group and a continued cessation of fighting in Gaza. Blinken said on Tuesday that he would discuss the counterproposal with Israeli officials.
Blinken is expected to meet, as he did in his previous visits to Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials in the Israeli war cabinet.
It is expected that Blinken will focus in these meetings on pushing Israel towards a “humanitarian truce,” as the Biden administration calls it, because suspending the fighting in this way is essential to the goals that the United States seeks to achieve in the short and long term. condition.
The talks are not expected to be easy. Netanyahu again rejected the idea of a ceasefire on Monday, saying the attack would continue until the Hamas leadership was killed. Throughout the conflict, it took intense and sustained pressure from the United States to get Israeli officials to change their positions on things like allowing aid into Gaza.
Read more about the conversations.
