Blinken fends off pressure from Arab states for immediate Gaza ceasefire

AMAN:

Arab leaders on Saturday called for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza, pressing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to persuade Israel, but the top US diplomat said such a pause at this time would only allow the Palestinian Hamas organization to regroup and attack Israel again.

In a rare public spat at a news conference in Amman, the foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt, alongside Blinken, repeatedly pressed for an end to hostilities, saying the deaths of thousands of civilians could not be justified as self-defense.

They also declined to discuss in depth what’s next for Gaza, when and if Hamas is eliminated, saying the immediate focus should be on trying to end hostilities.

Blinken is making his second trip to the region since Israel and Hamas began fighting on October 7, when the Palestinian group attacked Israel from Gaza in a rampage that Israel says has killed 1,400 people, with more than 240 other hostages.

Health officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 9,250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since then. The Israeli military has struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground offensive, sparking global alarm over humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Food is scarce and medical services are crumbling.

The mounting civilian death toll in Gaza has intensified international calls for a ceasefire, but Washington, like Israel, has so far rejected them, even as it has tried to persuade Israel to accept local ceasefires – an idea rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then met with Blinken on Friday.

“A ceasefire now would just leave Hamas in its place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7,” Blinken said. “No nation, none of us would accept this… So it is important to reaffirm Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself.”

Also read: Israel claims to have surrounded Gaza City as Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv

Blinken earlier met with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Emirates, Egypt and Jordan as well as Palestinian representatives in Amman. Jordan’s foreign ministry said the meeting would highlight the Arab stance of calling for an immediate ceasefire, the provision of humanitarian aid and ways to end “the dangerous escalation that threatens the security of the region”.

“The responsibility of the international community is always to seek an end to hostilities, not to promote the continuation of violence,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said at the same press conference.

“I think we need to get our priorities straight,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said. “Right now we have to make sure this war stops,” he added.

Washington has spoken with Israel, Arab states and international organizations about the future of Gaza, but both Shoukry and Safadi appeared reluctant to discuss those talks openly to ensure the focus remains on the need for a ceasefire .

“What will happen next – how can we even entertain what will happen to Gaza when we don’t know what kind of Gaza will be left,” Safadi said after that war.

Arab states are also concerned about the risk of the conflict expanding in the region. Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militias have launched attacks on Israel since October 7, while Tehran-backed Iraqi Shiite militias have been firing at US forces in Iraq and Syria.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, stressed the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza during a meeting with Blinken in Jordan on Saturday, Mikati’s office said. Mikati also said that “Israeli aggression” in southern Lebanon must stop.

Humanitarian pauses

After meeting with Blinken on Friday in Israel, Netanyahu said Israel had refused a temporary ceasefire that did not include the release of hostages.

A senior State Department official said Blinken’s talks with Netanyahu and his war cabinet on humanitarian pauses on Friday mirrored an earlier push last month for humanitarian access to Gaza.

In that case, Israel initially refused, but eventually relented, and more than 100 aid trucks a day now pass through the lane, the official said. US officials say 500-600 trucks a day are needed to meet the need in Gaza.

Read: US special envoy: no evidence of aid being blocked or seized by Hamas

Now the US is asking Israel to agree to temporary pauses in its attacks to allow aid to be delivered to Gaza, but Israel is concerned that Hamas will use agreed pauses to regroup and resupply.

U.S. special envoy for Middle East humanitarian affairs David Satterfield told reporters traveling with Blinken that Israel’s concerns were understandable, but that assurances that Israel would not target specific places or routes were a “strategic imperative” to take help to those who need it.