Blinken heads to Middle East to sell Gaza ceasefire deal

[Pelican Press 0]

Blinken heads to Middle East to sell Gaza ceasefire deal

37 minutes ago

By Tom Bateman, State department correspondent

Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Egypt as he attempts to build regional support for a draft Gaza peace deal recently unveiled by President Joe Biden.

The top ********* diplomat is on his eighth visit to the Middle East since the start of the war in Gaza.

Mr Blinken will first meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, before talks later on Monday with ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mediators in the region – which also include Qatar – have been attempting to negotiate a ceasefire between ******* and ****** for months.

Mr Netanyahu has vowed to resist any such deal until ******’s military and governing capabilities are destroyed and all hostages are released.

On Saturday, *******’s forces, backed by air strikes, freed four more captives after fighting intense **** battles with ****** in and around the Nuseirat ******** camp.

The ******-run health ministry in Gaza said the raid ******* 274 people, including children and other civilians. ******* says fewer than 100 people ***** in the operation.

After the offensive, ******’s political leader said the group would not agree to a ceasefire deal unless it achieved security for Palestinians.

Mr Blinken will use his trip to urge ***** leaders to pressurise ****** into accepting the ceasefire-for-******** release deal that the US desperately seeks.

The three-phase plan set out 10 days ago by Mr Biden would involve a six-week ceasefire that would become permanent, and the rebuilding of Gaza with international assistance.

The president called it *******’s proposal, in an attempt to effectively bounce the two sides into progress.

Mr Biden’s officials claim the text is “nearly identical” to one endorsed by ****** last month. “The only thing standing in the way of achieving this ceasefire is ******. It is time for them to accept the deal,” Mr Blinken said on Saturday.

****** is likely to demand guarantees the plan would lead to a permanent ceasefire and full ******** withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Its political leadership in Doha has yet to formally respond to the proposal, according to US and ******** officials, so it ******** to be seen whether indirect negotiations can resume.

During its 7 October attacks in southern *******, ****** ******* about 1,200 people and took some 251 people ********.

Some 116 remain in the ************ territory, including 41 the army says are *****.

A deal agreed in November saw ****** release 105 hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 ************ prisoners in ******** jails.

The ******-run health ministry says the ****** toll in Gaza has surpassed 37,000.

Grief in Gaza as scores ******* in IDF ******** raid

While Mr Biden presented the peace initiative as an ******** one, the US also knows *******’s own fractious ruling coalition is approaching the plan with much reluctance.

This extends to outright opposition by some far-right ministers who are threatening to trigger a collapse of the government if the deal progresses.

America’s chief diplomat is therefore flying into the thick of a political storm in ******* with few signs of a breakthrough on the truce proposal. The resignation of former general Benny Gantz from the war cabinet on Sunday has deepened the sense of instability around Prime Minister Netanyahu, with whom the White House has become exasperated over the course of the war.

For officials in Washington, Mr Gantz had become a preferred point of contact. He quit after giving Mr Netanyahu an 8 June deadline to meet his demands. Many of his objections to Mr Netanyahu’s handling of the war – including over a lack of any meaningful governance plan for a post-****** Gaza – closely mirrored those of the Biden administration.

On Sunday, Mr Gantz accused the prime minister of putting his political survival ahead of the national interest, keeping ******* “from achieving real victory”. Mr Netanyahu fired back that this was not a time for colleagues to quit but to “join forces”.

Mr Gantz’s resignation pulls the ******** government’s centre of gravity back towards the far-right, although it ******** unclear how his move will affect the pressure Washington can bring to bear on Mr Netanyahu, with its chief goal still being to build backing for the truce agreement.

Meanwhile in Cairo, Mr Blinken will meet the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is likely to press him to make progress on the issue of the Rafah border crossing.

The gate from Egypt is a lifeline for humanitarian aid entering Gaza and is also the only international exit route for wounded Palestinians, small numbers of whom have been able to leave over the course of the war for hospital treatment in Egypt. It has also been the primary route by which international aid teams have travelled in and out of Gaza.

The Rafah crossing has remained closed since ******* captured and occupied the crossing from ****** forces last month, in a move which has outraged the Egyptian leadership.

Egypt has been demanding officials from the internationally-recognised ************ Authority are put in control of the Rafah crossing, a move so far rejected by *******. The longer the standoff ******** unresolved, the worse the risks become of a crisis between ******* and Egypt, who made peace five decades ago and whose longstanding treaty agreements are critical in trying to maintain regional stability.

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