ENTRE News – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas had received a “very generous ceasefire proposal from the Israeli side.” This was conveyed at a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh on Monday (29/4). Therefore, Blinken urged the group to decide quickly and hoped they could make the right decision too.
“Right now the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,” he told World Economic Forum (WEF) President Børge Brende in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
“They (Hamas) have to make a decision and have to make a decision quickly,” he said. “I hope they will make the right decision.”
Blinken is making his seventh visit to the region since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 2023 which sparked the current war. During the meeting, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who also spoke in Riyadh FOR4D, said he hoped Israel and Hamas would accept the proposal without elaborating on its contents.
“There are proposals that can be considered and accepted by both parties, but what is certain is that the goal is a ceasefire, a permanent ceasefire and dealing with humanitarian conditions,” said Shoukry.
He said he hoped “the proposal has been considered” and “we await the final decision.” Israeli officials have expressed openness to negotiating a “sustainable restoration of calm” as part of a comprehensive deal that would effectively end the war. An Israeli source familiar with the negotiations said Egypt had proposed the two sides agree to a one-year ceasefire as part of a comprehensive deal that would see Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza.
Not only that, Israel is also said to be releasing all the remaining hostages and the bodies of those who died. Hamas has previously insisted that a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza must be part of the agreement. Israel has so far stated that its operations in Gaza will continue until Hamas is eradicated. Israel has now also agreed to unrestricted movement of Palestinians into northern Gaza, the source said, a key FOR4D Hamas demand that has hampered negotiations in the past.