DOHA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday the United States was reviewing a response from Hamas to a framework on a deal for the release of hostages as part of an extended pause in fighting in Gaza.
Blinken said at a press conference in Qatar that he would discuss Hamas’ response with Israeli officials when he visits the country on Wednesday.
Blinken declined to discuss the details of the response.
Washington would use every tool available to reach a pause in fighting that would build upon an earlier release of more than 100 hostages, Blinken said.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible, and indeed essential,” Blinken said.
The United States was determined to use any pause in the fighting to build a diplomatic path forward to a “just and lasting peace” in the Middle East, he said.
(Reporting by Humerya Pamuk and Simon Lewis; Editing by Howard Goller)
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DOHA/CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Tuesday it had delivered its response to a proposed ceasefire deal for Gaza, and the United States said it believed an agreement was possible.
Details of Hamas’ response were not immediately revealed but Qatar, which helped mediate the proposal that was passed on to Hamas last week and would also involve the release of hostages held in Gaza, said the reply had made Doha “optimistic”.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a lightning tour of the Middle East, said Washington was reviewing Hamas’ response and that he would discuss it with Israeli officials when he visits the country on Wednesday.
“There’s still a lot of work to do be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible, and indeed essential,” he told a press conference in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
After Hamas issued a statement saying it had submitted its response to the ceasefire proposal, Sheikh Mohammed said it had been a “positive response” but declined to give further details.
The proposed deal, drawn up more than a week ago by U.S. and Israeli spy chiefs at a meeting with the Egyptians and Qataris, would secure the release of remaining hostages held by militants in Gaza in return for a long pause to fighting.
Hamas has said previously that any deal must bring about a definitive end to the war. Israel has said it will not halt the war permanently until Hamas is destroyed.
Sources close to the talks have said the truce would last at least 40 days, during which militants would free civilians among remaining hostages they hold. Further phases would follow, to hand over soldiers and dead bodies of hostages, in exchange for releases of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The only truce so far, in November, was initially agreed for just four days and extended to last a week. At the time, Hamas released 110 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 27,585 Palestinians have been confirmed killed in Israel’s military campaign, with thousands more feared buried under rubble.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Doha and Humeyra Pamuk in Cairo; additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Mark Heinrich and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Peter Graff and Gareth Jones)
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