Top US diplomat Antony Blinken headed home on Wednesday after failing to secure a Gaza ceasefire, warning both Israel and Hamas his plan may be the last chance to avert a broader war. The US secretary of state appealed to Hamas to urgently accept a US-backed truce proposal, while also entering into a public spat with Israel over its future presence in the Gaza Strip. "Time is of the essence," Blinken said after stops in key Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt as well as Israel on his ninth tour of the region aiming to halt the more than 10-month war.
"With every passing day, more bad things can happen to more good people who don't deserve it," he said before flying out of Doha. "This needs to get done, and it needs to get done in the days ahead, and we will do everything possible to get it across the finish line," he said of the truce proposal. The United States has presented ideas to bridge gaps and, through Qatar and Egypt, pressed Hamas to return to talks this week in Cairo.
But a day after Blinken said US ally Israel was on board, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by Israeli media as disagreeing on a key sticking point. Netanyahu insisted Israel maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the border between Gaza and Egypt that Israeli forces seized from Hamas, whom Israel says relies on secret tunnels to bring in weapons. Blinken said Israel had already agreed on the "schedule and location" of troop withdrawals from Gaza.
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