US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in the Middle East to push the latest ceasefire proposal in the war between Israel and Gaza.
Washington's top official is expected to visit Egypt and Israel on Monday at the start of his eighth tour of the region in as many months, before continuing on to Jordan and Qatar. He will seek support for the latest draft of the ceasefire agreement presented by President Joe Biden 10 days ago, which the United States also hopes to put to a vote in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
However, as neither Israel nor Hamas have fully endorsed the plan, fighting continues, with airstrikes across the Gaza Strip overnight on Sunday and into Monday morning.
In Cairo, Blinken will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi before visiting Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
In addition to pushing for the ceasefire proposal, the U.S. official will discuss reopening the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a vital point for aid shipments to Gaza that Israel seized amid its ground invasion of the southern enclave last month. past.
Categorical and permanent
Biden on May 31 outlined a three-phase proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that he said was put forward by Israel. However, neither Israel nor Hamas have fully endorsed the plan and negotiations are ongoing.
A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, on Monday urged the United States to pressure Israel to end the war.
“We call on the US administration to pressure the occupation to stop the war in Gaza and the Hamas movement is ready to positively address any initiative that will ensure the end of the war,” he said.
The proposal includes the exchange of Palestinian prisoners with Israeli captives, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes throughout the enclave and a plan to rebuild the territory, much of which has been destroyed since on October 7.
More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war and some 84,000 have been injured, mostly women and children.
The trip comes as Washington has been working on multiple drafts of a resolution it intends to put to a vote in the UN Security Council to endorse the proposal.
Reporting from Washington, D.C., Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi said the latest version of the proposal differs in some significant ways from previous efforts.
“First, it explicitly states that Israel has accepted the ceasefire agreement. An earlier version only said that a ceasefire agreement was acceptable to Israel,” she noted.
It also explicitly states that any ceasefire will continue after six weeks and will be renewed as long as negotiations continue.
“But it is not yet a categorical and permanent ceasefire. That is what some members of the Security Council want,” Rattansi said.
Continuous bombardment
Blinken's trip comes two days after the Israeli army killed at least 274 Palestinians and injured 698 more in Nuseirat, central Gaza, as part of an operation that led to the release of four Israelis held captive by Hamas. .
Hamas claimed that Israeli forces killed three more unnamed captives, including one who had American citizenship, during the attack, which was denied by Israel.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued bombing locations throughout Gaza. Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said bodies continue to arrive at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, threatening to overwhelm the only functioning hospital in the area.
Late Sunday, Benny Gantz announced that he was resigning as Israeli war cabinet minister. While the move is unlikely to immediately threaten Netanyahu's administration, it will make him even more dependent on his far-right allies.
Blinken previously met with Gantz during visits to Israel, but it is unclear if a visit is scheduled for Monday.
The eighth regional tour since the start of the war by the US diplomat also comes as tensions rise in border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with both sides having indicated they are ready for war after eight months of border fighting.
