Blinken expresses frustration at changes to Gaza ceasefire deal requested by Hamas
CNN
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday expressed frustration that Hamas has submitted “numerous changes” to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza – a development that casts further doubt on the prospects of quickly securing the deal the US hopes will bring “an enduring end” to the war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday expressed frustration that Hamas has submitted “numerous changes” to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza – a development that casts further doubt on the prospects of quickly securing the deal the US hopes will bring “an enduring end” to the war. “Some of the changes are workable. Some are not,” Blinken said at a press conference in Doha, describing some of those changes as going “beyond positions (Hamas) had previously taken.” Blinken, unlike an Israeli official who spoke to CNN earlier, did not go as far as to describe the response by Hamas as a rejection of the proposal, and said he believed that the “gaps” are “bridgeable.” Still, the top US diplomat made clear his exasperation at both the changes Hamas proposed and the length of time it took to reply – 12 days. He did not go into specific details about the changes, but he continued to cast exclusive blame for the stalling of the deal – and the prolonging of the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza – on the US-designated terrorist group, not on Israel. “Israel accepted the proposal as it was,” he reiterated, despite repeated public statements from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeming to cast doubt on his approval of the proposal. “Hamas could have answered with a single word – yes,” he said. “At some point in a negotiation – and this has gone back and forth for a long time – you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it had already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not,” Blinken said in reference to Hamas.
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