Blinken warns new Gaza talks ‘possibly the final’ probability for a ceasefire

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Israel to push for a Gaza truce, today declared ongoing negotiations were ‘maybe the last’ chance to reach an agreement to end the war.

‘This is a decisive moment – probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security,’ Blinken said as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The top US diplomat said President Joe Biden had sent him ‘to get this agreement to the line’, and added that it was essential no last-minute mishaps were made.

‘It is time for it to get done. It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process,’ Blinken said ahead of a planned meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today on his ninth visit to Israel since October 7.

‘We’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity.’

Blinken’s push to finalise a ceasefire deal comes amid yet more tragedy in Gaza where an Israeli strike on a home in Deir al-Balah killed a woman and her six children, one of which was 18 months old and five of which were quintuplets. 

‘The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,’ the children’s grandfather, Mohammed Awad Khatab, told reporters. 

‘What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? Will this provide security to Israel?’

Efforts to bring about a cease-fire in Gaza gained new urgency after the targeted killing of two top militants last month, both attributed to Israel, brought vows of revenge from Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, raising fears of all-out war across the Middle East.

An American official said Friday that mediators were beginning preparations for implementing the latest cease-fire proposal, and Netanyahu’s office expressed ‘cautious optimism’ a deal could be reached.

An Israeli delegation travelled to Cairo on Sunday for further talks, and Blinken will meet with Netanyahu on today. 

Blinken will travel to Egypt on Tuesday for meetings with officials there, the State Department said, and may stop in at least one other regional country.

Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting there are areas where Israel can be flexible and unspecified areas where it won’t be. ‘We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,’ he said.

Hamas has cast doubt on whether an agreement is near, saying the latest proposal diverged significantly from a previous iteration it accepted in principle. 

The Palestinian group has also rejected Israel’s demands for a lasting military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and a line bisecting Gaza where Israeli forces would search Palestinians returning to their homes. 

Israel says both are needed to prevent militants from rearming and returning to the north.

Israel showed flexibility in retreating from the border corridor, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli military officials was scheduled for the week ahead to agree on a withdrawal mechanism, according to two Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the private negotiations.

US Vice President Kamala Harris, asked Sunday whether she thinks Netanyahu is ready for a cease-fire deal, said: ‘I will not speak for him, but I will tell you that these conversations are ongoing and we are not giving up, and we are going to continue to work very hard on this. We’ve got to get a cease-fire and we got to get those hostages out.’

The US and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar said at the weekend they were closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha last week, with Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. 

But Hamas in a statement Sunday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of setting new conditions, including his refusal of a complete withdrawal of forces from Gaza.

The war has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced the vast majority of the territory’s 2.3 million residents and led experts to warn of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted around 250. 

Of those, some 110 are still believed to be in Gaza, though Israeli authorities say around a third are dead. 

More than 100 hostages were released in November during a weeklong cease-fire.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the group places fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas. 

But the Israeli bombardment has wiped out entire extended families and orphaned thousands of children.

In Lebanon meanwhile, three UN peacekeepers were lightly wounded when an explosion struck their vehicle near the southern village of Yarin. The peacekeeping mission said the incident was under investigation.

Hezbollah began launching near-daily drone and rocket attacks along the border after the war in Gaza began, drawing Israeli retaliation in a cycle of violence that has steadily escalated.

A bomb explosion on a Tel Aviv street Sunday night killed one person and police were investigating the circumstances.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which has also seen a surge of violence, gunmen marched in a funeral procession for two Hamas commanders killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jenin the day before.