U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged a final push to secure a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza before President Joe Biden leaves office, signaling a narrowing window for negotiations. Blinken’s call follows claims from a Hamas official that the terror group has approved the release of 34 hostages under the terms of a potential truce.
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining,” Blinken said at a press conference when asked about the status of the negotiations.
Israel has dispatched a delegation of mid-level officials to Qatar for talks mediated by Qatari and Egyptian envoys. Arabic media outlets have speculated that Mossad chief David Barnea, who has spearheaded negotiations, may join the discussions, though the Prime Minister’s Office has declined to comment.
The looming January 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has intensified pressure on the talks, with Trump warning of “hell to pay” in the Middle East if the hostages are not released by then, an unofficial but widely recognized deadline.
Currently, 96 of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attacks are believed to remain in Gaza. Among them are at least 34 individuals confirmed dead by the IDF. In addition, Hamas continues to hold the remains of two IDF soldiers killed in 2014 and two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
Shall history yet again have a way of repeating itself exactly years later 44 years = 16,071 days = 385,705 hours later? With another release of hostages moments before President Elect Donald Trump שליט”א is sworn as happened 45 years ago moments before President Ronald Reagan was sworn in? Both of-course Republicans