Blinken reaches Tel Aviv as ceasefire talks hit roadblock
Will hold a series of meetings with top Israeli leadership to ensure that proposed Cairo peace talks likely to be held on Wednesday take place
Tel Aviv: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Israel President Issac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday.
He arrived here late on Sunday even as the indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas held in Doha, Qatar on Thursday and Friday at the behest of the US have now hit a roadblock.
Both sides — Israel and Hamas — have accused each other of backtracking from their avowed positions.
While Hamas alleges Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu of scuttling the peace talks by bringing in new conditions for peace, Israel said that Hamas was not for peace and that the militant organisation has not even sent a delegation to the indirect peace talks held at Doha on last Thursday and Friday.
Sources in the Israel government said Blinken, who is on his ninth visit to the Middle East since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, will hold a series of meetings with the top Israeli leadership to ensure that the proposed Cairo peace talks likely to be held on Wednesday takes place smoothly.
With the US President elections taking place this year, President Joe Biden is keen that the Israel-Hamas fight ends at the earliest. The talks are taking place in the shadow of a feared regional escalation as Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on July 31.
Meanwhile, the Hostages and Missing Families forum has called upon the Israeli government to bring the hostages back home at the earliest.
