Israel-Hamas ceasefire may be close at hand, Blinken says

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said negotiators were closer to reaching an agreement than they’d ever been, but the ball was currently in Hamas’ court. Blinken hoped that, after all this time, the two sides would finally reach an agreement to end the hostilities in Gaza, he said. Last summer, Blinken accused the Gaza-based terrorist group of sabotaging negotiations by changing its demands for a cease-fire agreement with Israel.

Do others involved share Blinken’s optimism? The Times of Israel on Tuesday reported that many individuals representing the various governments and entities involved in the negotiations were optimistic that a ceasefire agreement was near at hand. One unnamed Palestinian source told Reuters the agreement could come as early as Tuesday.

The agreement would involve Hamas releasing at least some of the 98 hostages remaining in Gaza in phases, while Israel correspondingly released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, according to The Times of Israel. At the same time, Israel would wind down its military operations in Gaza. Family members of hostages met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday and demanded that their loved ones be released. Time was not on the hostages’ side, the family members said.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift yesterday about the tentative outlines of a ceasefire agreement, as they were reported by Israeli media.