US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Monday for a final push for a Gaza ceasefire before President Joe Biden leaves office, after a Hamas official told Reuters the group had cleared a list of 34 hostages as first to go free under a truce.
"We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining," Blinken told a news conference in South Korea, when asked whether a ceasefire deal was close.
Israel has sent a team of mid-ranking officials to Qatar for talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Some Arabic media reports said David Barnea, the head of Mossad, who has been leading negotiations, was expected to join them. The Israeli prime minister's office did not comment.
It remains unclear how close the two sides remain, with some signs of movement but little indication of a shift in some of the key demands that have so far blocked any truce for more than a year.
Hamas backtracked
This comes after Blinken told The New York Times Podcast on Saturday that Hamas had backtracked on a deal after seeing the pressure on Israel.
The absence of world pressure on Hamas to surrender and release the hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 massacre has been “astounding,” Blinken also said.
He reiterated the United States’ commitment to Israel's defense and refuted reports that Netanyahu had barred a hostage deal from being achieved in July.