Blinken Says Israel Accepts Cease-Fire, Hamas Must ‘Say Yes’
- US diplomat set to head to Egypt for more talks on cease-fire
- Blinken stresses need for an ‘enduring cease-fire’ for Gaza
A boy walks through a puddle of sewage water past mounds of trash and rubble in the Jabalia camp for refugees in Gaza on Aug. 14.
Photographer: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty ImagesUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted a cease-fire proposal to halt the war in Gaza and the next step is for “Hamas to say yes,” as the Biden administration looked to bring an end to the 10-month conflict at last.
Blinken, on his ninth trip to the region since Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, called the proposed accord “a bridging agreement” and acknowledged that “not everything is spelled out in detail.” But it builds on a proposal that President Joe Biden put forward in late May which both sides had balked at.
