Blinken arrives in Israel to push for Gaza truce

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Israel shortly in his latest effort to push for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza, News.Az reports citing BBC.

His ninth trip to the region since the war began in October comes days after the US presented a modified proposal aimed at bridging long-standing gaps between the two sides.

The US and Israel have expressed optimism about a deal since talks resumed in Doha last week, but Hamas says suggestions of progress are an "illusion".

Differences are said to include whether Israeli troops will be required to withdraw fully from the Gaza Strip, as Hamas insists.

A Hamas source has told Saudi media that the proposals include the IDF maintaining a reduced presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

But Israeli sources have told the Times of Israel that other procedures along the border could compensate for an Israeli withdrawal from the area in the first phase of the deal.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

A ceasefire deal agreed in November saw Hamas release 105 of the hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and the freeing of some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Israel says 111 hostages are still being held, 39 of whom are presumed dead.

News.Az