Hamas-Israel 90 percent agreement on ceasefire: Blinken
Last Updated on September 11, 2024 6:17 am
In an interview given to the American news channel Fox, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The situation has not yet reached an agreement.”
Since the last week-long cease-fire in November, talks between Hamas and Israel have been ongoing between Qatar, Egypt and the United States on the next phase of the ceasefire, but neither side has been able to reach an agreement on the issue. But today the United States has given good news about this.
Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken claims that the two sides have agreed on 90 percent of the agreement.
Blinken said, “Now it is the responsibility of Israel and Hamas to reach a full agreement on the ceasefire.”
Blinken urged the two sides to reach an agreement on the remaining 10 percent and finalize the ceasefire agreement.
’90 per cent consensus has been reached. But there are still a few important things to agree on’, added Blinken.
“It is now Israel and Hamas’s responsibility,” he argued. Reach consensus, stop fighting and release prisoners.’
Blinken said, ‘Among the issues that have yet to be decided is the Philadelphia Corridor, which straddles the border with the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Moreover, there are disagreements about how Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons will be released.
“I hope that Egypt and Qatar, the mediators, will inform Hamas of our thinking. We will talk to Israel. Then we will see how we can agree on the remaining issues’, added veteran diplomat Blinken.
On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with the US news channel Fox, “There is no agreement yet.”
The conflict between Israel and Hamas has resulted in many deaths. On October 7, 2023, Hamas entered Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Hamas has said that 40,800 people have died in Gaza so far in Israeli counter-attacks.
Several countries, including Israel, the United States, and Germany, have declared Hamas a terrorist organization.
German Foreign Minister Bierbock is visiting Israel on Friday. He will hold a meeting with Israel’s foreign minister and defense minister. He will also visit the occupied West Bank.
Bierbock began his Middle East tour on Thursday. Initially, he went to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Deutsche Welle journalist Nina Hasse quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Berbock told the Saudi foreign minister, “Israel and Palestine must maintain their own territories and give importance to the “two state” solution.”
Then the German Foreign Minister went to Jordan. There he announced that Germany will give an additional 50 million euros for humanitarian aid in Gaza. He also said to give an additional 12.7 million euros to Jordan.
AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa