• Acknowledges differences, calls for ‘maximum flexibility’ from both Israel and Hamas
• Egypt tells top US diplomat ‘time has come to end the ongoing war’

DOHA: Top US diplomat Antony Blinken headed home on Wednesday after failing to secure a Gaza ceasefire, warning both Israel and Hamas his plan may be the last chance to avert a broader war.

The US secretary of state appealed to Hamas to urgently accept a US-backed truce proposal, while also entering into a public spat with Israel over its future presence in the Gaza Strip.

“Time is of the essence,” Blinken said after stops in key Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt as well as Israel on his ninth tour of the region aiming to halt the more than 10-month war.

“With every passing day, more bad things can happen to more good people who don’t deserve it,” he said before flying out of Doha.

“This needs to get done, and it needs to get done in the days ahead, and we will do everything possible to get it across the finish line,” he said of the truce proposal.

The United States has presented ideas to bridge gaps and, through Qatar and Egypt, pressed Hamas to return to talks this week in Cairo.

But a day after Blinken said US ally Israel was on board, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by Israeli media as disagreeing on a key sticking point.

Netanyahu insisted Israel maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the border between Gaza and Egypt that Israeli forces seized from Hamas, whom Israel says relies on secret tunnels to bring in weapons.

Sticking point

Blinken acknowledged differences and called for “maximum flexibility” from both Israel and Hamas. He said Israel had already agreed on the “schedule and location” of troop withdrawals from Gaza.

Since the conflict began, it was made “very clear that the United States does not accept any long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel”, Blinken said when asked about Netanyahu’s remarks.

Blinken and mediators from Egypt and Qatar have pinned their hopes on a US “bridging proposal” aimed at narrowing the gaps between the two sides in the 10-month-old war, after negotiations last week paused without a breakthrough.

A senior Biden administration official travelling with Blinken said the US expects the ceasefire talks to continue this week.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, called Netan­yahu’s “maximalist statements” unhelpful for reaching a truce.

Egypt, the first Arab nation to make peace with Israel, has been infuriated by the border takeover.

Blinken has sought to entice Netanyahu to compromise by offering Israel the prospect of greater normalisation with the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, meeting Blinken in El Alamein, told him “the time has come to end the ongoing war,” a statement said.

Blinken then travelled to Doha to meet with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, but a US official said the Qatari ruler was feeling unwell and they would speak by phone.

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for delays in agreeing a deal to end fighting, free Israeli prisoners and allow vital humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Netanyahu has faced public protests in Israel urging him to accept a truce, which would bring back prisoners whose plight has plagued Israelis.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2024