Blinken confident Gaza ceasefire will come, either under Biden or after he leaves office
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Biden administration “will work every minute of every day” to secure a hostage deal.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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SEOUL – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence on Jan 6 that a ceasefire deal in Gaza would come together, but possibly after President Joe Biden leaves office on Jan 20.
Mr Blinken, who tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully in 2024 to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel,
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks,” Mr Blinken told reporters on a visit to Seoul.
“If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later,” Mr Blinken said.
“When it does, it will be on the basis of the plan that President Biden put forward and that virtually the entire world supports.”
President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on Jan 20,
A Hamas official said on Jan 5 the group was ready to free 34 hostages in the first phase of a potential deal with Israel, which said that indirect talks had resumed in Qatar.
Mr Blinken said there had been an intensified engagement by Hamas on reaching a deal, but that it was not yet complete.
“We need Hamas to make the final necessary decisions to complete the agreement and to fundamentally change the circumstance for the hostages, getting them out, for people in Gaza, bringing them relief, and for the region as a whole, creating an opportunity to actually move forward to something better,” he said.
He has made 12 visits to the Middle East since the massive Oct 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel,
