29 April, 2024. U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, “We strongly support Israel in its effort to ensure that what happened on October 7 never happens again. But at the same time, we are determined to do everything we can to bring an end to the terrible human suffering that we’re seeing every single day in Gaza among children, women, men, who’ve been caught in a terrible crossfire of Hamas’ making. And so maximising protection of civilians, maximising the support that gets to them. This is very much our focus. Now, the quickest way to bring this to an end is to get to a ceasefire and the release of hostages.”
Saudi Arabia and United States have done intense work together over the last months, and in fact well before 7 October. Blinken also disclosed that he was supposed to be in the region to be in Saudi Arabia and in Israel on October 10th.
The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to swiftly accept Israel’s latest and “extraordinarily generous” proposal for a Gaza truce to secure a release of hostages, at a special meeting of the World Economic Forum held in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday (April 29).
Hamas negotiators were expected to meet Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Monday to deliver a response to the phased truce proposal Israel presented at the weekend, ahead of a threatened Israeli assault on the southern border city of Rafah.
Blinken reiterated that the U.S. could not support an Israeli ground assault on Rafah – where Israel says Hamas’ last four intact battalions are holed up – “in the absence of an Israeli plan to ensure that civilians will not be harmed.”
Blinken, speaking earlier at the opening of a meeting with Gulf Arab states, said the most effective way to address the crisis and create space for a more lasting solution was to get a ceasefire that allowed the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Hamas fighters attacked Israel on 7th October, killing 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel retaliated by imposing a total siege on Gaza, then mounting an air and ground assault that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
