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Blinken: Israel accepts cease-fire bridge proposal; now Hamas must 'do the same'

Israeli Prime Minister weclomes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday ahead of a meeting in Jerusalem a day after the United States' top diplomat arrived in the country to push for a Gaza ceasefire. Photo by Chaim Tzach/Israeli Government Office/EPA-EFE
Israeli Prime Minister weclomes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday ahead of a meeting in Jerusalem a day after the United States' top diplomat arrived in the country to push for a Gaza ceasefire. Photo by Chaim Tzach/Israeli Government Office/EPA-EFE

Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Israel has accepted a U.S. proposal that aims to bridge differences in a cease-fire deal with Hamas, the United States' top diplomat said Monday after having described the current moment as potentially a last chance to secure a halt in the fighting and free Israeli hostages.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel confirmed acceptance of the bridge deal during a "very constructive meeting" and now they were to work on securing a similar response from Iran-backed Hamas.

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"It's now incumbent on Hamas to do the same," Blinken said.

"The next important step is for Hamas to say yes and then, in the coming days, for all of the expert negotiators to get together to work on clear understandings on implementing the agreement."

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The United States has been pushing for both sides to come to a cease-fire and hostage-release deal since President Joe Biden unveiled it in May, but there has been added urgency to get it done amid heightened concern that the endeavor could be wholly derailed by an anticipated retaliatory strike on Israel by Iran over recent assassinations of Iran proxy militia leaders.

Last week, negotiations resumed in the Qatari capital of Doha and have been center on a last-ditch proposal announced Friday by the United States, Qatar and Egypt designed to close final outstanding differences between Israel and Hamas.

Blinken, who on his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Hamas-Israel war began Oct. 7, acknowledged that there are still "complex issues" preventing an agreement to the bridge deal but said there is "a real sense of urgency" across the region "to get this over the finish line and do it as soon as possible."

"The United States is deeply committed to getting this job done, to getting it done now," he said.

Blinken will next be going to Egypt and Qatar, the other two mediators in the talks, to figure out what can be done to ensure Hamas agrees to the bridging proposal.

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The announcement came hours after he described the Egypt-Qatar-U.S.-mediated talks in a joint press conference with President Isaac Herzog of Israel as "decisive" and "probably the best, maybe last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a cease-fire and put everyone on a better pat to enduring peace and security."

"We're working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places, and to greater intensity," said Blinken.

The so-called bridging proposal presented to Israel and Hamas was "consistent with the principles" in the three-stage Israeli plan put forward by Biden in May.

That plan called for an initial six-week cease-fire in which Israeli forces would withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza and women, children and elderly hostages would be released and Palestinian prisoners freed. In phase two, all remaining hostages would be freed, Israel would complete its military withdrawal and commit to a lasting truce. Lastly, phase three would include the repatriation of dead hostages, Gaza reconstruction and joint U.S.-Arab nation efforts to prevent Hamas rearming.

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"This proposal builds on areas of agreement over the past week, and bridges remaining gaps in the manner that allows for a swift implementation of the deal," the statement released by the White House on Friday read.

Key sticking points are said to be around whether Israeli forces will pull out of Gaza completely, without which Hamas has said there can be no deal; allowing displaced Gazans to return to the northern part of the strip and Israel's insistence the area remains off-limits to armed men during any cease-fire.

Israel also wants an international mechanism to stop arms being moved from the south to the north and a veto over which Palestinian prisoners would be released.

The bridging proposal is said not to include Netanyahu's demand for Israeli Defense Forces to stay on in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.

However, The Times of Israel reported multiple outlets quoting Israeli sources saying security chiefs believe leaving the zone for the deal's first phase would not enable Hamas to rearm to any great extent and that it could be compensated for via certain unspecified border procedures.

Washington is optimistic it can get the deal sealed, possibly as early as the beginning of next week.

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However, neither Israel or Hamas held out much prospect for a breakthrough as they traded jabs in a new blame game in which Hamas said Netanyahu was "fully responsible" for erecting fresh roadblocks to reaching an agreement, accusing him of working to prolong the conflict for his own political purposes, while Netanyahu said it was Hamas' fault.

"It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. The pressure should be directed at Hamas and [its leader Yahya] Sinwar, not at the Israeli government," said Netanyahu.

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