By Abdelraouf Arnaout
JERUSALEM (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of ongoing efforts to reach a prisoner exchange agreement and a cease-fire in Gaza.
The US Embassy in Israel released a photo of Blinken and Netanyahu meeting in the Israeli Prime Minister's office in Western Jerusalem.
The top US diplomat arrived in Israel Sunday evening on his ninth regional visit to advance efforts to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap deal with Hamas.
Blinken is also scheduled to meet with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant before concluding his visit to Tel Aviv with a press conference.
Earlier Monday, Blinken warned that the ongoing Gaza cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas may be the last opportunity to end the war.
“This is a decisive moment—probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a cease-fire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security,” Blinked said during his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, according to The Times of Israel daily.
Blinken is also expected to visit Egypt on Tuesday, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
Cease-fire talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, concluded on Friday by presenting "a proposal that narrows the gaps" between Israel and Hamas that is consistent with the principles set out by US President Joe Biden on May 31.
Biden said in May that Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
For months, the US, Qatar, and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’ demands to stop the war.
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.
The Israeli onslaught has since killed nearly 40,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,600, according to local health authorities.
More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio