PNN – US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he was hopeful of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and vowed to use his remaining month in office to achieve it.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, However, the Secretary of State Joe Biden, who is in the last days of this American democratic administration, after repeated failures in the efforts of the American government to end the 14 months of brutal war in the Palestinian territory, is ready to guarantee success in this.
Blinken, who leaves office on January 20, said: I am hopeful. Everyone should be. We will use every minute of every day of the week that is left to do this.
Referring to the release of the “hostages” based on the ceasefire agreement, the US foreign minister said: The release of the hostages must happen. We must release people.
Repeating the assessment last week on his 12th trip to the Middle East since the start of the war, Blinken claimed that Hamas is showing more flexibility because of the damage done to its patron, Iran.
US President Joe Biden has faced widespread criticism in the US Democratic Party for not putting more pressure on Israel, including not stopping billions of US dollars in arms shipments to the Israeli regime.
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Blinken reiterated that ending the war is in Israel’s best interest and that there must be an agreement on governance in Gaza after the war. He also rejected the position of extremist Israelis who support a long-term presence in Gaza.
The current US Secretary of State said: Therefore, Gaza must have different conditions that ensure that Hamas is not responsible in any way, that Israel does not have to be responsible, and that a coherent thing emerges after the war.
Blinken also said in a conversation with the American MSNBC news channel: We are close to an agreement. He claimed: Hamas has reached a stage where it knows that others cannot save it. Now the pressure is on Hamas to say yes to the prisoner exchange and ceasefire agreement.
He added: We have to be realistic. In recent months, several times we felt that we were close to an agreement, but we did not reach it. So, Hamas should be asked whether it will agree to the agreement or not.
The Secretary of State of the Biden government claimed with full support for Israel: We are against Israel’s occupation of Gaza. This will strengthen Hamas’s will to fight and is in Israel’s interest to withdraw from Gaza. Now is the time to agree to this agreement, leave Gaza and release the hostages.
Since October 7, 2023, following the failure of the Al-Aqsa storm operation by the Palestinian resistance groups led by Hamas, Israel has started a devastating war against the Gaza Strip. During this period, most of the houses and infrastructures of the Gaza Strip have been severely destroyed in this war, and the miserable siege and severe humanitarian crisis, along with the unprecedented famine and hunger, threaten the lives of the residents of this area.
Israel’s attacks are not limited to the Gaza Strip, and the occupation regime of Jerusalem has expanded its belligerence in the West Bank, Lebanon and other Middle East regions with the full support of the United States and its allies.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that the number of martyrs in Gaza has reached 45,59 and the number of injured has reached 107,41 since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa storm operation.