Blinken tells Hamas the time for ‘haggling’ over truce agreement is over

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Israel for talks with the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders, expressed their determination to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a deal that would allow for the release of more hostages held by Hamas.

“Israel has made very important commitments in the proposal that is on the table,” Blinken said after meeting with Netanyahu.

“Hamas has to decide whether it will accept this deal and actually improve the situation for the people it wants to care about in Gaza. There is no time for delay; there is no time for more negotiations,” the top US diplomat said.

Blinken also met with the Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for talks that focused on obtaining more humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army announced on Wednesday that the Erez border crossing, located in the far north of Gaza, has been opened to allow the entry of 30 trucks carrying food and medical supplies from Jordan.

Relief supplies arriving by ship at the Israeli port of Ashdod will now be transported directly to the nearby Erez border crossing, Gallant said Wednesday night.

Gallant and Blinken visited the Kerem Shalom Passage, which is at the southern end of the coastal strip, as well as Ashdod, where the US Secretary of State delivered remarks.

Blinken said aid via Erez was a “very important” development in reaching the hard-hit north of the strip, where food shortages are severe. He also said the US is “probably a week away” from having its own maritime aid corridor – including a floating dock off Gaza – operational.

Israel has announced a rapid start to the controversial ground offensive on Rafah, Hamas’ last stronghold on the border with Egypt, if an agreement with Hamas is not reached.

However, Netanyahu also made clear that an offensive on Rafah does not depend on a deal.

“We will go to Rafah and crush the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal,” Netanyahu said at a meeting with relatives of Israeli hostages and soldiers killed on Tuesday, according to his office. “The idea that we will stop the war before all its objectives have been achieved is out of the question.”

Netanyahu is under strong pressure from his far-right coalition partners, who made themselves heard once again on Wednesday with comments from a right-wing minister who said it was not worth recovering “22 or 33 people”, sparking outrage .

Minister Orit Strock, from the Religious Zionism party, said Israel’s war aims should not be sacrificed by the return of a small number of hostages.

She spoke of a “terrible deal” that also put hostages who were not part of it at risk. War aims could not be “thrown in the trash to save 22 or 33 people,” she said.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid responded on X, formerly Twitter, that a “government with 22 or 33 members of the extremist coalition has no right to exist.”

Around 129 people who were abducted on October 7 are believed to remain in Gaza, including many whom Israel has concluded are no longer alive.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing Egyptian officials, the proposed agreement foresees two phases.

The first phase would involve the release of at least 20 hostages in a three-week ceasefire, in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. The duration of the ceasefire could be extended by one day for each additional hostage, he said.

A second phase would include a 10-week ceasefire in which Hamas and Israel could agree on a more extensive release of hostages and a longer pause in fighting that could last up to a year.

However, Hamas has so far insisted on a complete end to the war, which Israel rejects

Both parties are not negotiating directly, but through mediators Egypt, Qatar and the USA.

“We are determined to achieve a ceasefire that brings the hostages home, and to do it now. And the only reason this would not be achieved is because of Hamas,” Blinken said earlier in Tel Aviv.