US Secretary of State Antony Blinken set to arrive in Israel as pressure mounts on Hamas to accept a critical hostage deal.
“There is heavy pressure on Hamas” from the United States, Egypt, and Qatar to “give a positive response,” according to a source quoted in local Jerusalem post.
Those two Arab countries have been the main mediators for the deal, with the support of the US.
The US and Israel expressed cautious optimism after CIA Director William Burns held two days of talks in Doha that ended Friday.
US special envoy Brett McGurk, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed al-Thani, and Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel participated in the negotiations.
The high-level Israel delegation that returned Friday was headed by Mossad Chief David Barnea.
Under the terms of the bridging proposal, female hostages, including female soldiers, would be freed first.
It has long been understood that some 18-33 hostages of the remaining 115 captives, known as humanitarian cases, would be freed during the first six weeks of the proposal in exchange for a lull in the war.
Two hostages held by Hamas since 2014 and 2015, Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed would also be released in that first phase.
In addition, Israel has been given the list of Palestinian security prisons and terrorists that Hamas wants to see freed in exchange for the hostages.
US President Joe Biden on Friday said that parties negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza were closer to reaching a deal but were not there yet.
“We’re much, much closer than we were three days ago,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “I don’t want to jinx anything,” he said, explaining that “we’re not there yet,” but “we’re close.”
The stakes have been high to conclude a deal that would see the return of the remaining 115 hostages in Gaza and a ceasefire deal that would end the war that began on October 7.
