U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. (Pool, Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will step up efforts to secure a truce in Gaza when he arrives in the Middle East on Monday, in what could be a final chance to persuade Israel to call off an attack on the southern city of Rafah.
“If there’s a deal, we will suspend the operation” in Rafah, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Channel 12 on Saturday as the Israeli military continued to make preparations for an offensive.
Egypt is stepping up efforts at mediation to secure an agreement between Israel and Hamas leading to a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages, but the two sides remain far apart. A Hamas official has said its delegation plans to respond to the latest truce plan on Monday, Agence France Presse reported.
Blinken is traveling to Saudi Arabia for two days to meet regional counterparts and then on to Israel, according to U.S. and Israeli media. It’s the top U.S. diplomat’s seventh Middle East trip since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
An Israeli assault on Rafah, a safe haven for roughly half the Gaza Strip’s population who’ve fled almost seven months of fighting, would prolong the conflict and threaten U.S. President Joe Biden’s hopes of getting Arab states to help with post-war rebuilding. It would also stymie a U.S. push to secure a historic accord to establish relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. has urged Israel against a large-scale offensive in Rafah, which Israeli officials say is needed to crush the final stronghold of 5,000 to 8,000 fighters and key leaders from the Palestinian militant group. The small city on the coastal strip’s border with Egypt had a prewar population of about 280,000 and is now crammed with more than a million refugees. There are fears of major civilian casualties if Israeli troops storm it. Israel has promised to move the civilians out, an uncertain process that could take weeks.
Israel has been waging a military campaign in Gaza to wipe out Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., EU and others, since it swept across the border and attacked Israeli communities and military bases on Oct. 7.
Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and abducted 250 others in that assault, of whom more than 130 remain in Gaza, some dead. The Israeli bombardment and ground offensive has destroyed much of Gaza, killing more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory, who don’t distinguish between civilian and military casualties.
Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make more effort to reach a truce with Hamas. Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities Saturday, some demanding the government step down to make way for early elections, after the group released videos of several hostages alive.
Negotiations with Hamas remain deadlocked on the group’s insistence for an Israeli commitment to eventually pull out all its troops and end the war. Israel has also refused demands to allow displaced Gazans to return to their homes in the north without any restrictions.
In a sign of progress, Israel may be willing to compromise on the number of hostages freed in return for allowing Palestinian prisoners out of jail in an initial phase of any deal, Israeli media reported. Hamas had said it can’t free 40 women, elderly or sick captives as demanded in return for a six-week cease-fire, because it doesn’t have enough hostages in that category. Egypt has suggested a three-week truce in exchange for freeing 20 hostages, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing Egyptian officials.
Under a previous proposal, a second phase would free men and soldiers under 50, followed by a third phase for the release of the bodies of hostages that should lead to a permanent end to the war, according to U.S. officials.
Axios cited two senior Israeli officials who weren’t identified as saying that Israel is ready to give “one last chance” for the negotiations before moving forward with a ground invasion of Rafah.
Netanyahu’s room for maneuver is limited because he heads the most right-wing government in Israel’s history. His firebrand coalition allies, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, oppose a hostage deal right now, which could bring his administration down. They both warned in posts on X Sunday not to risk his government’s existence.
Qatar, which has also been mediating, warned that neither side is showing sufficient flexibility. “We have expressed frustration regarding the level of commitment of both parties,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told Israel’s Kan state channel in an interview aired on Saturday.
The U.S. State Department said last week it was of “dire importance” for a hostage deal to be done “immediately,” and blamed Hamas for holding it up.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, has frustrated a U.S. bid to work with Arab allies — including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt — to secure Gaza’s future after hostilities end, by refusing their demand to endorse the goal of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel has also resisted the idea of giving the Palestinian Authority that rules in the West Bank responsibility for Gaza, raising the prospect of open-ended Israeli occupation.
With assistance from Galit Altstein and Courtney McBride.
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