Secretary Blinken: “Strong Deal On The Table. Question Is: Will Hamas Take It?”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a press briefing on Wednesday, discussing the current state of affairs in the Gaza Strip and asserting the presence of a “very strong” deal on the negotiating table.

At the outset of his address, Blinken touched upon the ongoing efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. He highlighted the establishment of a new entry point for aid in the northern region of Gaza and emphasized a significant shipment of flour departing from the Ashdod Port destined for Gaza’s shores.

Blinken underscored the necessity for a more efficient aid distribution mechanism in Gaza. He articulated, “One of the challenges that we have now is that lawlessness, insecurity, all of that purveys in Gaza, combined with desperation. When you put those things together you have situations where aid goes in and then people immediately charge at the trucks. You see looting, criminal gangs, and again, just ordinary civilians who, in the absence of sufficient aid, may believe that their only chance to get a piece of bread is to go at the one truck that they see.”

He elaborated further, stating, “When you have a sustainable, predictable, and constant supply of assistance coming in, that will give people confidence that food is there, it will keep coming, they can rely on it. That will also decrease both the overall insecurity and the sense of lawlessness, prices will come down for goods that are being looted and then sold on the black market, and that will undercut the gangs that are engaged in that practice.”

Asserting the importance of a ceasefire in facilitating aid delivery, Blinken emphasized, “There’s a really strong proposal on the table right now, the question is will Hamas take it? Does Hamas want to end the suffering that it’s provoked? The question is there, but I can tell you that we are intensely engaged every single day, almost every single hour, with Qatar, with Egypt, to see if we can get, a ceasefire agreement that will get the hostages out, get more aid in, create a pathway perhaps for more a more lasting, secure solution.”

In addition, Blinken addressed the distressing revelation concerning the fate of Itay Chen, a dual US-Israeli citizen held by Hamas.  “The hostages remain front and center on our minds and our hearts. We just learned that one of the dual US-Israeli citizens who we believed was taken on October 7th, Itay Chen, was in fact killed, on October 7th. I met with his family multiple times over the last several months. I spoke to them yesterday, to Rubi, to Hagit. There are no good words, no one should have to go through what they’ve gone through and what the other hostages’ families are going through. That’s another reason that getting the ceasefire would be so crucial, to enable us to bring the hostages home.”