US secretary of state speaks of ‘decisive moment’ for truce and hostage release on his ninth regional trip of the war
that the current round of ceasefire talks is “maybe the last opportunity” to broker a truce and hostage and prisoner swap in the 10-month-old war in Gaza.
“It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process,” he said in a veiled reference to Iran. “And so we’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way move us away from getting this deal over the line, or for that matter, escalate the conflict to other places and to greater intensity.
Israel, too, has expressed an unwillingness to compromise on points such as the withdrawal of troops from the Gaza-Egypt border. Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday: “There are things we can be flexible on and there are things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on.”
There have been reports of friction between Netanyahu and his negotiating team this week over the future of the Gaza-Egypt border zone, known in Israel as the Philadelphi corridor. Israeli news website Ynet reported on Monday that the prime minister has refused to countenance giving up control of the area, although members of the security establishment, including his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, believe a compromise can be reached with the use of surveillance technology.
The groups threatened to carry out more such attacks in Israel “as long as the occupation’s massacres, the displacement of civilians and the policy of assassinations continue”.
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