Blinken reaffirms 90% of Gaza cease-fire deal settled

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Thursday that 90% of the terms for a Gaza cease-fire and hostage agreement have been settled, urging both Israel and Hamas to agree on the remaining "critical issues."

"I think based on what I’ve seen, 90% is agreed, but there are a few critical issues that remain where we need to be able to get agreement, and they really go to how certain aspects of the agreement would be implemented,” Blinken told reporters during a press conference in Haiti.

He said the remaining disputed issues, including the Philadelphi Corridor and the specifics of how hostages and prisoners are exchanged, have been discussed in recent days.

"At this point, it seems to me that it’s really incumbent on both parties to get to yes on these remaining issues," he said, noting the "active discussions" with the US's partners Egypt and Qatar.

"I expect in the coming days we will share with Israel, and they’ll share with Hamas, our thoughts, the three of us, on exactly how to resolve the remaining outstanding questions. And then it will be time really for the parties to decide yes or no, and then we’ll see," he added.

"As close as we have gotten and as close as I believe we are to getting a cease-fire agreement, every day that goes by where it is not finalized and the parties don’t say yes, period, is a day in which something else happens and there is an intervening event which simply pushes things off and runs the risk of derailing what is a pretty fragile apple cart," Blinken said.

Blinken's remarks followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's dismissal of reports quoting a senior US administration official who said that 90% of the terms for a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal had been agreed upon, with Netanyahu calling the claims "exactly inaccurate."

"There's a story, a narrative out there that there's a deal out there…that’s just a false narrative," Netanyahu said Thursday in an interview with US-based Fox News.

"There’s not a deal in the making," he said. "Unfortunately, it’s not close."

On Wednesday at a news conference with foreign media in Jerusalem, Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor -- a narrow but strategic nine-mile (14-kilometer) strip of land that runs along Gaza's border with Egypt.

He has cited concerns that Hamas might use the area to facilitate smuggling from Egypt if Israeli forces withdraw. Critics argue that Netanyahu's stance on the corridor has complicated the wider cease-fire deal

Hamas continues to demand a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, including from the Philadelphi Corridor, and the return of displaced Palestinians.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed 1,139 people and took around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

Since then, more than 40,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and nearly 94,400 injured, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel currently holds at least 9,500 Palestinian prisoners, while it estimates that 101 Israeli hostages are being held in Gaza, an unknown number of whom are believed to have been killed while in captivity.