Israel-Gaza: Time to stop 'haggling' on truce, Blinken says

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, speaking alongside the visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was critical of both sides' behavior in long-running truce talks. 

Blinken had criticized Hamas in particular after its latest counterproposal, almost two weeks after the original offer, on a mooted cease-fire plan. 

But Al-Thani said that both sides needed to be pressured to come to a deal and that both had been counterproductive at times during the negotiating process. 

The Qatari prime minister, foreign minister, and member of the ruling royal family also said there was a clear and firm international call to end the war in Gaza as soon as possible. 

"We are witnessing a shift in this conflict in the recent period and there is a clear and firm call to end this war," Sheikh Mohammed said. 

He said that the proposal on the tableremained the best way to start bridging the gaps between Israel and Hamas, and pledged his government's continued efforts in this direction. 

Qatar, Egypt and the US have been leading the negotiations with other outside assistance in recent months. 

 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Qatar that while some of the changes Hamas proposed to a cease-fire proposal were "workable," others were not. 

He said the US would now work with its partners to try to bridge gaps and to "close the deal" after months of ultimately fruitless talks.

"It's time for the haggling to stop and the cease-fire to start," he said. 

Blinken also repeatedly questioned why Hamas had taken 12 days to respond to the offer, noting that Palestinian civilian suffering and Israeli military activity continued during that period. 

He commented on this being his eighth tour of the region for shuttle diplomacy since the October 7 terror attack. 

"Everyone that I've engaged with that this is the path that they want to pursue. Now, I can't speak for Hamas or answer for Hamas, and ultimately, it may not be the path that Hamas want to pursue. But Hamas cannot and will not be allowed to decide the future for the region," Blinken said. 

The US diplomat also said reaching an accord would have a "tremendous" impact on the simmering tension between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon to its north.

He said the US was working on some of the open questions for a longer-term peace in the region, not least how Gaza might be governed. 

"In the coming weeks," he said the US would present "key elements of the day-after planning, including concrete ideas for how to manage governance, security, reconstruction." 

Israel and Palestinian militant groups have committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip since the current conflict started on October 7, a United Nations commission reported on Wednesday.

It accused Israel of crimes against humanity including "extermination, murder, sexual violence against Palestinian men and boys, forced relocation, torture and inhumane treatment."

UN Human Rights Council Commission chairwoman Navi Pillay called on Israel to end its military action in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Meirav Shahar, rejected the findings and accused the commission of "systematic discrimination" against Israel. Shahar said it had "proven once again that its activities are in service of a political agenda aimed against Israel."

The commission's report also listed attacks on civilians, torture, inhumane and cruel treatment and hostage-taking as war crimes committed by Hamas and six other armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

"The taking of hostages constitutes a war crime," Pillay said, calling an end to the attacks by Palestinian armed groups on Israel and the release of all hostages.

Israel launched a large-scale military offensive following the Hamas-led terror attack on October 7 during which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage.

Since the start of the war over, 37,000 Palestinians have been killed according to Hamas-run health authorities.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets at northern Israel on Wednesday in what it called retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed a senior commander on Tuesday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spoke of up to 160 missiles fired from southern Lebanon by the Iranian-backed group, making it one of the largest such attacks since the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip erupted on October 7.

Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire across Israel's northern border on an almost daily basis, including on Tuesday evening, when an Israeli strike on the Lebanese village of Jouaiyya killed a senior Hezbollah field commander identified as Taleb Abdullah, alias Abu Taleb, and three other fighters.

Taleb, 55, whose funeral is due to be held on Wednesday, is thought to be the most senior Hezbollah commander to have been killed thus far, outranking Wissam al-Tawil, who was killed in January.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed over 400 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also more than 70 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 15 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed on the northern front since the war in Gaza began.

The latest exchange came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the region to push a cease-fire proposal which has been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council but not yet fully or publicly embraced by Israel or Hamas.

A key element of Monday's UN resolution endorsing the cease-fire was a demand to prevent an escalation of the conflict and secure Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet mediators in Qatar on Wednesday after Hamas gave its response to a possible cease-fire in Gaza.

Blinken, on a four-country trip around the Middle East to push Hamas to accept the truce proposal, will meet the top leadership of Qatar, which has been transmitting messages to the Palestinian militant group.

Hamas, responding to the US-backed proposal, is seeking "amendments" to the deal, though Washington is keen to clarify what those alterations entail.

The US  proposal calls for an Israeli withdrawal from "major population centers" and an initial cease-fire for six weeks, which would then be extended as negotiators reach a permanent deal.

Hamas has responded to a US-backed proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the militant group seeking some "amendments."

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the United States is now "evaluating" the militant group's response.

While supporting the broad outlines of the proposal, Hamas officials have expressed weariness over whether Israel would implement its terms.

The militant group is especially concerned over the suggestion of an end to fighting and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in return for the release of all hostages held by the militants.

Israel, the United States and Germany are among the countries that classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.

jsi/kb (AP, AFP, DPA, Reuters)