Blinken arrives in Middle East to renew push for Gaza ceasefire

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday on a Middle East tour aimed at intensifying diplomatic pressure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza this week to end the bloodshed between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

On his 10th trip to the region since the war began in October, Blinken will meet on Monday with senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior State Department official said.

After Israel, Blinken will continue onto Egypt.

The talks to strike a deal for a truce and the return of hostages held in Gaza were now at an "inflection point,"  a senior Biden administration official told reporters en route to Tel Aviv, adding Blinken was going to stress to all parties the importance of getting this deal over the finish line.

"We think this is a critical time," the official said.

The mediating countries - Qatar, the United States and Egypt - have so far failed to narrow enough differences to reach an agreement in months of on-off negotiations, and violence continued unabated in Gaza on Sunday.

Netanyahu's office said on Sunday that he still insists Israeli forces remain on a border strip that runs between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor, in order to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza.

Netanyahu was responding to an Israeli TV news report which said that in a meeting with the negotiators, the prime minister was urged to show more flexibility on some of the issues.

His office said Netanyahu would continue to work towards advancing a deal that maximises the number of living hostages released and allows for Israel's war objectives to be achieved, including not allowing Hamas to retain control of Gaza.

A strike killed at least 21 people including six children in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian health authorities said.

The children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, health officials said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The Israeli military said it destroyed rocket launchers used to hit Israel from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks, and killed 20 Palestinian militants.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence has escalated since the war in Gaza broke out in October last year, an Israeli man died from wounds sustained in an attack, according to a hospital spokesperson.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during the 2024 Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) at the State Department in Washington, U.S., August 5, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt)

CLOSING GAPS

The talks towards a ceasefire are set to continue this week in Cairo, following a two-day meeting in Doha last week. Blinken will try to reach a breakthrough after the U.S. put forward bridging proposals that the mediating countries believe would close gaps between the warring parties.

There has been increased urgency to reach a ceasefire deal amid fears of escalation across the wider region. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, relatives gathered around the bodies of the mother and her six children, who were wrapped in white shrouds bearing their names. The youngest was aged 18 months, their grandfather Mohammed Khattab told Reuters at the funeral.

"What was their crime? ... Did they kill a Jew? Did they shoot at the Jews? Did they launch rockets at the Jews? Did they destroy the state of Israel? What did they do? What did they do to deserve this?" said Khattab.

Israel has denied targeting civilians as it hunts down Hamas militants, accusing the group of operating from civilian facilities including schools and hospitals. Hamas denies this.

The war erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants rampaged into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military campaign has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble. Israel says it has killed 17,000 Hamas combatants.

Israel remained firmly committed to principles established for its security in the May 27 outline proposals, Netanyahu's office said in a statement following a meeting of the cabinet.

"I would like to emphasise: We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give," Netanyahu told the meeting. "There are things we can be flexible on and... things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on.

"Strong military and diplomatic pressure are the way to secure the release of our hostages," he said.

Hamas said that optimistic U.S. comments were "deceptive" and accused Netanyahu of making new conditions in an attempt to "blow up" the negotiation.

Disagreements include whether Israeli troops should remain present in Gaza after the fighting ends, notably along the border with Egypt, and over checks on people going into northern Gaza from the south, which Israel says is needed to stop armed militants.

Hamas has pushed for a ceasefire deal to end the war, while Israel has not been willing to agree to go beyond a temporary pause in the fighting.