Blinken urges Hamas to accept Israel’s ‘generous’ Gaza deal

Antony Blinken urged Hamas to swiftly accept Israel’s latest and ‘extraordinarily generous’ proposal for a Gaza truce to secure a release of hostages, at a special meeting of the World Economic Forum held in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday. Hamas negotiators were expected to meet Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo to deliver a response to the phased truce proposal Israel presented at the weekend, ahead of a threatened Israeli assault on the southern border city of Rafah. Blinken also reiterated the US could not support an Israeli ground assault on Rafah ‘in the absence of an [Israeli] plan to ensure that civilians will not be harmed’
Middle East crisis: latest updates