United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the "gaps are narrowing" in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas over another cease-fire and hostage release that the US, Egypt, and Qatar have spent several weeks trying to broker.
Blinken on Thursday discussed with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi the negotiations to secure an immediate ceasefire for at least six weeks in the war between Israel and Hamas and the release of all hostages kidnapped by the Palestinian terrorist group, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
He also discussed with Sisi the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel.
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Blinken's sixth visit to the region since the start of the Israel-Hamas war began in Saudi Arabia before going to Egypt on Thursday with a stop in Israel on Friday. In an interview Wednesday with the Al-Hadath network in Saudi Arabia, Blinken said the mediators worked with Israel to put a "strong proposal" on the table. He said Hamas rejected it, but came back with other demands that the mediators are working on.
"The gaps are narrowing, and I think an agreement is very much possible," Blinken said.
The Health Ministry in Gaza raised the territory's death toll Thursday to nearly 32,000 Palestinians. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. A United Nations food agency warned that "famine is imminent" in northern Gaza.
Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people in the surprise Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza that triggered the war, and abducted another 250 people. Hamas is still believed to be holding some 100 people hostage, as well as the remains of 30 others.
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