‘The time is now’: Blinken urges Israel, Hamas to move ahead with cease-fire deal

JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli leaders Wednesday in his push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying “the time is now” for an agreement that would free hostages and bring a pause in the nearly seven months of war in Gaza.

Blinken is on his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted in October. The current round of talks appears to be serious, but the sides remain far apart on one key issue — whether the war should end as part of an emerging deal.

Before agreeing to an initial, short-term cease-fire and partial hostage release, Hamas wants assurances that the eventual freeing of all the hostages will bring the end of Israel’s offensive and its full withdrawal from Gaza.

Israel has offered only a pause after which it would resume its offensives until Hamas is destroyed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his determination to attack Rafah in talks with Blinken on Wednesday.

Blinken put pressure on Hamas, saying it would bear the blame for any failure to get a deal. Hamas said in a statement it would likely reply to the latest proposal on Thursday.

“We are determined to get a cease-fire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” Blinken told Israel’s ceremonial President Isaac Herzog at a meeting in Tel Aviv.

“There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses. The time is now,” he said.

Blinken said the deal would also allow much needed food, medicine and water to get into Gaza.

Still, Netanyahu’s vow to carry out a military operation in Rafah, which Israel says is the last major Hamas stronghold, showed the remaining challenges in the talks.

“The operation in Rafah doesn’t depend on anything. The prime minister made this clear to Secretary Blinken,” Netanyahu’s office said after the two met Wednesday. A day earlier, Netanyahu pledged to move on Rafah “with or without” a cease-fire deal.

The United States has staunchly supported Israel’s campaign of bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza since Hamas’ unprecedented terrorist attack on Oct. 7 into southern Israel. But it has been outspoken against an assault on Rafah.

Washington says it opposes a major offensive but that if Israel conducts one it must first evacuate civilians.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which terrorists killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the terrorists are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.