State Secretary Anthony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia next week to meet with regional partners as negotiations between Israel and Hamas remain at an impasse, the State Department announced Saturday.
“The secretary will discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that guarantees the release of hostages and how it is Hamas that stands between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire,” said the State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, in a statement. “The secretary will also emphasize the importance of preventing the conflict from spreading and discuss ongoing efforts to achieve lasting peace and security in the region, including through a path to an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel.”
Despite months of talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt, Hamas and Israel failed to reach an agreement into a ceasefire and hostage agreement due to differences in key demands.
The latest framework presented over several rounds of talks in Qatar and Egypt includes a six-week ceasefire and the release of some hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Hamas said on Saturday it had received a response from Israel regarding its position in the ceasefire negotiations. “The movement will study this proposal and, upon completion of its study, will present its response,” he said in a statement.
Blinken’s trip, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, comes after he meets Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. last month in Jeddah to discuss efforts to free hostages held by Hamas.
The top American diplomat told CNN on Friday that it could be possible to implement a framework for the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, along with a proposed two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians before a ceasefire. be established.
“Ceasefire or not, we will continue to publicize these possibilities. But to truly achieve this, it will be necessary to end the conflict in Gaza,” Blinken said in a statement. interview with CNN’s Kylie Atwood. “And as I said, there will also have to be a resolution to the Palestinian issue, or at least an agreement on how to resolve it.”
U.S. officials previously said that negotiations to secure a ceasefire had to reach an agreement before any regional efforts could come to fruition.
CNN’s Simone McCarthy Jeremy DiamondEugenia Yosef, Alex Marquardt and Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.
For more news and newsletters from CNN, create an account at CNN.com
