BLINKEN VISITING ISRAEL AS GAZA TRUCE EFFORTS SET TO RESUME

The United States’s top diplomat is visiting Israel as part of Washington’s efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza in which more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the besieged enclave since last October.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to arrive in Israel on Sunday, days after the US put forward proposals that it and mediators Qatar and Egypt believe would close gaps between Israel and Hamas. Truce talks are expected to resume in Cairo in the coming days after two days of negotiations in Doha this week. 

Mediators have said they presented a bridging ceasefire proposal to both sides and that negotiations were making progress, but they also cautioned that there is still work to be done.

In Israel, Blinken is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.

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Israel’s negotiating team on Saturday expressed “cautious optimism” on the possibility of advancing a deal, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

However, Hamas has called for a ceasefire plan outlined by Biden in late May to be implemented instead of something that introduces “new conditions” from Israel.

Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu remains the main obstacle to a ceasefire and an exchange deal for the remaining captives and Palestinian prisoners.

“From day one, we said we will not accept a temporary arrangement, it was done in November 2023, and the Israelis undermined that,” Hamdan said.