US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has postponed his trip to the Middle East, delaying his scheduled departure on Tuesday. Axios reported. This comes ahead of scheduled Gaza ceasefire talks this week.
The top US diplomat's trip was postponed due to "uncertainty about the situation," Axios said, citing two unnamed sources.
On Tuesday, Hamas fired two rockets aimed at Tel Aviv for the first time in months, while Israel carried out separate deadly airstrikes in Gaza. On Monday, US officials said they expected Thursday's talks to continue as planned.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to send a delegation to the capital of Qatar - Doha, while the leadership of "Hamas" declined the offer to participate in the negotiations. According to their spokesman, they are ready to negotiate only on the implementation of the already agreed agreement.
Negotiations would allow the Israeli army to continue its attacks in Gaza and then repeatedly delay the process with new demands, according to representatives of "Hamas".
The Israeli attack on a school on the outskirts of Gaza City, in which 93 people were killed, has significantly reduced the chances of a peace agreement. Israel came up with the defensive thesis that it then attacked 31 fighters of "Hamas", while according to the Palestinian Civil Defense, the majority of those killed in the attack were women and children.
According to an adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, the attack carried out by Israel showed that the announced third phase of the Israeli strategy, namely the attempt to kill all commanders of "Hamas", is being carried out regardless of the negotiations.
In this regard, today Blinken asked the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to convince the representatives of "Hamas" to rethink their approach.
The representatives of "Hamas" are regular guests in Ankara, where they openly demonstrate their sympathy for the leader of "Hamas" Yahya Sinwar. The Lebanese newspaper "Al Akhbar" reports that the Egyptian negotiating team wants to "lure" "Hamas" in Doha with the promise of a short-term but immediate ceasefire.