US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will depart on Tuesday for a Middle East tour aimed at securing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas while at the same time preventing a wider war in the region, according to Axios reporter Barak Ravid.
The top American diplomat will reportedly visit Israel, Egypt and Qatar.
Ravid noted that the trip could still be postponed if Iran chooses to attack the Jewish state directly ahead of Blinken’s anticipated departure.
On Monday, Blinken spoke to his Turkish counterpart “about the importance of Hamas’s return to negotiations on August 15 to finalize the framework for achieving an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, securing the release of all hostages, and ending the war,” according to a State Department readout of their call.
Hours earlier, Hamas announced a boycott of the final round of negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement set for this Thursday.
Israel immediately accepted last week’s invitation by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to attend the meeting, which is to take place in either Cairo or Doha. Despite Hamas’s decision not to send representatives to the talks, the mediators are still planning on holding them, Kan News reported.
Meanwhile, US Special Coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk was set to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday to work on additional components of the prospective hostages-for-ceasefire deal, according to Ravid.
McGurk will try to reach understandings with senior Egyptian and Israeli officials on security arrangements for the critical Philadelphi Corridor and the reopening of the Rafah Crossing, both of which straddle the border between the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza.
Last week, Blinken said that “the negotiations have now reached a final stage,” even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that Hamas had not responded to Jerusalem’s latest proposal.
John Kirby, the White House national security communications adviser, also told reporters that ceasefire negotiations were “as close as we’ve ever been” to achieving a breakthrough.
“The gaps are narrow enough that they can be closed,” he said.
Asked whether a deal is being impeded by Hamas or by Netanyahu, Kirby said that both sides must compromise.
“The deal hasn’t been accepted, because neither side has signed up to it,” Kirby said. “We believe that both sides need to do the final bit of work here, to come to a conclusion on this thing.”
Washington is engaged in “intense diplomacy” to prevent an Iranian retaliatory strike on Israel after the killing of Hamas terror chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Kirby said.
“We don’t want to see an escalation,” he said. “If there is one, my goodness, we’re going to be ready to defend Israel and defend ourselves as appropriate.”
A revised Israeli intelligence assessment suggests that Iran is slated to launch an assault on the Jewish state “within days” in a joint attack with its Lebanese Hezbollah proxy, Axios reported on Wednesday night.
The report, which cited two sources with knowledge of the issue, said that Israeli intelligence indicates Tehran’s attack could be launched before the ceasefire talks scheduled for Thursday.
The attacks are anticipated to be larger and more complicated than Tehran’s April strike on the Jewish state and include the launching of missiles and drones at targets in Israel’s densely populated center.
