US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks Thursday in Qatar, a key mediator in the Gaza war, as he seeks to build momentum for a ceasefire after Israel’s killing of the leader of Hamas.
After meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Blinken flew to Saudi Arabia and then Qatar, where he will seek assessments of where Hamas stands on a truce.
Blinken “discussed renewed efforts to secure the release of the hostages and end the war in Gaza” with the Gulf state’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the State Department said.
He later went into talks with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, with whom he will hold a joint news conference.
Blinken is paying his 11th trip to the region since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, after repeated disappointments in his quest to end the Israeli retaliatory campaign in the Gaza Strip.
But less than two weeks before the US presidential election, President Joe Biden has found new hope after Israel killed Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, in Gaza.
US officials had described Sinwar as intransigent in negotiations brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt on a ceasefire that would also see the release of hostages from Gaza.
Blinken said he spoke to Israel’s leaders “about the importance of determining whether Hamas is prepared to engage in moving forward, and the Egyptians, the Qataris are doing just that”.
“But I believe that with Sinwar gone, because he was the primary obstacle for realising the hostage agreement, there is a real opportunity to bring them home and to accomplish the objective,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday as he left Israel.
Critics say the issue was not just Hamas but the Biden administration’s failure to secure the support of Israel, which has received a near continuous flow of billions of dollars in US weapons.
– ‘New frameworks’ –
Hamas has yet to choose a successor to Sinwar.
Two Hamas sources told AFP this week that the group was leaning towards appointing a Doha-based leadership committee rather than an individual leader.
Blinken said a ceasefire plan laid out by Biden on May 31 remained on the table but also hinted at a willingness to explore “new frameworks” to seek freedom for 97 hostages, including 34 confirmed dead, still held by militants in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Blinken is also looking for greater clarity on a plan for reconstruction and post-war governance of Gaza, seeing it as a vital component of efforts to end the war.
Hamas seized full control of Gaza in 2007, and for more than a decade has maintained an office in Qatar, initially with the blessing of Israel and the United States.
The office has allowed communication with the group, whose main patron is US arch foe Iran, with Qatar — a nimble regional player which also hosts a major US base — channelling money to support Hamas governance of impoverished Gaza.
After the October 7 attack, Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas and bring the hostages home. It stands accused of killing Hamas’s Qatar-based political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, while he was visiting Iran in July.
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