Blinken blames Hamas for end of Gaza truce, Qatar says talks on for renewal
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday blamed Hamas for the end of the truce.
In the Gaza Strip, saying that the Palestinian terrorist group “reneged on the commitments” it made regarding the releasing of “certain hostages”.
Speaking to reporters after attending the COP28 in Dubai, Blinken also said that Hamas “committed an atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem”. His reference was to the shooting attack by Palestinian gunmen at a bus stop in Jerusalem on Thursday, in which three people were killed and eight others wounded. In a statement later, Hamas claimed responsibility of the attack.
The US Secretary of State added that Hamas fired rockets into Israel on Friday. The Israeli military also mentioned the firing of roughly 50 rockets targeting the border towns in the southern coastal city of Ashdod from the Gaza Strip.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin echoed Blinken, noting that the United States is going to continue working with Israel and mediators Egypt and Qatar on “efforts to re-implement the pause”, Reuters reported.
Qatar, which has been a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza, said that efforts are still underway to restore the truce. However, fresh Israeli strikes in Gaza might complicate matters.
Israel has also blamed Hamas for the sudden end of the Gaza truce on Friday, which lasted for seven days. The period saw two extensions, and the release of 105 hostages by Hamas and 240 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Here are the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war
Antony Blinken, who made a trip to Israel three days before, said that the US is focused on the release of the hostages that still remain under Hamas’s captivity in Gaza. He also noted that they are “determined” to do “everything” to get the hostages home, including “pursuing the process that worked for seven days”.
“We had seven days of a pause; seven days of people coming home and being reunited with their families,” he told reporters in Dubai.
The US Secretary of State, however, reiterated the country’s support for Israel in the Jewish nation’s efforts to ensure “October 7th never happens again”. “We’ve also been very clear about the imperative of doing that in a way that puts a premium on protecting civilians and making sure that humanitarian assistance gets to those who need it. So that’s what we’re focused on, and we’re doing both at the same time,” Blinken added.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that 136 hostages, including 17 women and children, continue to be held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and they would do everything to bring them home.
Meanwhile, soon after the resumption of the ground offensive in Gaza, the IDF updated on X that it had struck operational command centres in Gaza, which Hamas was running, along with underground sites and a military compound.
“(We also) eliminated multiple terrorist cells throughout Gaza—including one with over 10 terrorists operating adjacent to ground troops. Thwarted 2 additional terrorist cells—in joint IDF ground and aerial activities—that launched mortar shells toward IDF troops in Gaza,” the X post read.
At least 178 people have been killed in Gaza in the first hours of the resumption of fighting as Israeli strikes hit houses and buildings in the besieged enclave, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the region. Israel said it struck over 200 Hamas targets soon after the fighting resumed, the Associated Press reported.
Fighting also broke out between Israel and Hezbollah, operating along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
Hamas blamed the US for the end of the Gaza truce, and even accused the country of giving a go-ahead for an Israeli “war of genocide and ethnic cleansing”. “Today, it brazenly repeats the Zionist lies, which hold Hamas responsible for resuming the war and not extending the humanitarian truce,” Reuters reported the Palestinian terrorist group as saying in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces had stopped all deliveries of humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians, said aid agreed under the truce had been stopped but, at the US’s request, “dozens” of other trucks with food, water and medical supplies had reached the besieged enclave.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the United States has insisted Israel this week that it devise clear plans to reduce civilian harm in any military operation in southern Gaza. This came as Friday’s Israeli strikes, soon after the Gaza temporary ceasefire ended, were the most intense in the southern areas of Khan Younis and Rafah in the enclave.
The US official said during the current offensive in Gaza entire neighbourhoods in the south should be designated as safe zones for civilians, though some may still have to leave their homes if they are in areas where Hamas fighters are present.
The Israeli government agreed that any operation in southern Gaza should not look like it did in the north and its military will designate areas where civilians will not be harmed, the US official added. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government did not give clear assurances about avoiding civilian harm, and the US official said the matter would continue to be discussed.