Israel and Hamas must show flexibility toward a Gaza hostage and ceasefire agreement so that it can be completed in the coming days since time is of the essence, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday night in Qatar.
There is a “fierce urgency” to get this "done in the days ahead, and we will do everything possible to get it across the finish line,” Blinken told reporters after visiting Israel, Egypt, and Qatar.
Those two Arab countries, together with the US, have been the main mediators of the deal to secure the release of the 109 remaining hostages in Gaza and end the war sparked by the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7.
The US has, in the last week, pressed to close the gaps between Israel and Hamas regarding a three-phase hostage deal that US President Joe Biden unveiled on May 31.
Last week, it put forward a "bridging proposal” to close those gaps, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to on Monday after a three-hour meeting with Blinken in Jerusalem but which Hamas has initially rejected.
Hamas has insisted that it is committed to the original framework deal but not the “bridging proposal” which it says favors new points Israel has inserted into the agreement.
“Over the coming days, we are going to do everything possible to get Hamas on board,” Blinken said.
The US hopes to hold a high-level round of talks in Cairo or Doha at the end of this weekend, which it hopes will finalize the deal.
“Our message is simple, it's clear and it's urgent. We need to get the ceasefire and hostage agreement over the finish line, and we need to do it now".
“Time is of the essence because, with every passing day, the well-being and lives of the hostages are in jeopardy,” Blinken said.
He spoke just after the IDF discovered the bodies of six hostages killed in captivity and returned them to Israel.
Blinken also stressed the importance for the Palestinians in Gaza of a ceasefire that would stop the suffering they had endured for over ten months in a war “they didn’t start and can not stop.”
There is also an urgency because the deal would prevent a dangerous regional escalation, Blinken said as he referred to threats of reprisal attacks by Iran and its proxy group Hezbollah against Israel.
“We're working in our different ways to try to ensure that there is no escalation, sending the necessary messages to all of the potential actors, including Iran and Hezbollah, to avoid taking any steps that could escalate the conflict or spread it,” Blinken said.
“It's very important that everyone [Israel and Hamas] do what's necessary to bring the flexibility to the table” to finalize the deal, he said.
Earlier in Chicago, Biden said the ceasefire was “still in play” despite comments by Netanyahu that it could only happen if Israel maintained a military presence in the critical buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
“Israel says they can work it out. They’re prepared,” Biden said.
“I was told Hamas was now backing off. But it remains to be seen. We’re going to keep pushing,” he added.
Hamas rejected US comments that it was backing away from a deal, saying Egyptian and Qatari mediators knew it had dealt positively towards the negotiations and that it was Netanyahu who had obstructed an agreement with new demands.
After his meeting with Blinken, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said the deal also had regional implications.
”The ceasefire in Gaza must be the beginning of broader international recognition of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution, as this is the basic guarantor of stability in the region,” Sisi said.
Pentagon statement
The Pentagon said it “continues to closely monitor the situation in the Middle East and take steps to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or its proxies.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said on Tuesday there could be a long wait for Iranian retaliation against Israel.
“Time is in our favor and the waiting period for this response could be long,” Naini said.
Blinken in Qatar said that the deal was “key” to resolving the cross-border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and would help put an end to the Houthis attacks against ships in the Red Sea.
“It's the key to seeing if we can pursue a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which both countries remain very interested in.
“It's the key to actually putting everyone starting with Israel on a path to greater peace and security,” Blinken said.
Reuters contributed to this report.