US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) is welcomed by PLO Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh (C) as he arrives to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (not pictured) in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Febr. 7, 2024. (Credit: Alaa Badarneh/Pool/AFP)
TEL AVIV— US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday voiced hopes for a deal for the release of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas in return for an extended pause to the war in Gaza.
"There's a lot of work to be done but we are very much focused on doing that work, and hopefully being able to resume releasing hostages that was interrupted," Blinken told reporters at the start of his meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
The top US diplomat earlier met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed a Hamas counter proposal to a cease-fire proposal drawn up by US and Israeli spy chiefs and delivered to the Palestinian group last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Other Israeli officials such as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Mossad Director David Barnea also attended the meeting, according to a video from the beginning of the meeting released by Netanyahu's office.
The top US diplomat has been conducting intense shuttle diplomacy, crisscrossing the Middle East on Tuesday in his fifth visit to the region since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 on southern Israel, and meeting with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, two countries mediating the hostage negotiations with Hamas.
Blinken and other senior US officials see securing a deal to release the remaining hostages in exchange for an extended pause in the Hamas-Israel war as the best path forward in regards to facilitating discussions for a wider integration of Israel into the region, including a normalization of its ties with Saudi Arabia.
Talks on the structure of Gaza when the war ends, how the Palestinian Authority — which exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the occupied West Bank — needs to be reformed to potentially rule the densely populated enclave and identifying a pathway for a Palestinian state are all variables in the same equation, according to US officials.
Ensuring more humanitarian aid reaches Gaza and is distributed to those in need also depends on an end to the fighting, officials say.
Blinken told Herzog he would share with him what he heard in his meeting with Saudi, Egyptian and Qatari officials on Israel's wider integration into the region.
"I do believe that there's a very positive, powerful future that is possible that genuinely integrates Israel into the region and addresses its most profound security needs to be able to live in peace and genuine security and also answers the aspirations of the Palestinian people," Blinken said.
"You can see that equation very clearly, and it was only reinforced by my visits with our friends and partners in the region."
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk)
hopes for a deal for the release of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas
in return for an extended pause to the war in Gaza.
"There's a lot of work to be done but we are very much
focused on doing that work, and hopefully being able to resume
releasing hostages that was interrupted," Blinken told reporters
at the...