Blinken is heading back to the Middle East

Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Egypt on Tuesday for his 10th trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began nearly a year ago this one aimed partly at refining a proposal to present to Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire deal and release of hostages Unlike in recent mediating missions Americas top diplomat this time is travelling without optimistic projections from the Biden administration of an expected breakthrough in the troubled negotiationsNotably Blinken has no public plans to go to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this trip The Israeli leaders fiery public statements like his declaration that Israel would accept only total victory when Blinken was last in the region in June and some other unbudgeable demands have complicated earlier diplomacyBlinken is going to Egypt for talks Wednesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and others in a trip billed as focused both on AmericanEgyptian relations and Gaza consultations with Egypt The tampeddown US approach to Mideast diplomacy follows months in which President Joe Biden and his officials publicly talked up an agreement to end the war in Gaza as being just within reach hoping to build pressure on Netanyahus farright government and Hamas to seal a dealThe Biden administration now says it is working with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to come up with a revised final proposal to try to at least get Israel and Hamas into a sixweek ceasefire that would free some of the hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel Americans believe public attention on details of the talks now would only hurt that effortAmerican Qatari and Egyptian officials still are consulting about what that proposal will contain and were trying to see that its a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said MondayThe State Department pointed to Egypts important role in Gaza peace efforts in announcing last week that the Biden administration planned to give the country its full USD 13 billion in military aid overriding congressional requirements that the US hold back some of the funding if Egypt fails to show adequate progress on human rights Blinken told Congress that Egypt has made progress on human rights including in freeing political prisonersBlinkens trip comes amid the risk of a fullon new front in the Middle East with Israel threatening increasing military action against the Hezbollah militant organization in Lebanon Biden envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel on Monday to try to calm tensions after a stop in Lebanon Hezbollah has one of the strongest militaries in the Middle East and like Hamas and smaller groups in Syria and Iraq it is allied with IranHezbollah and Israel have exchanged strikes across Israels northern border with Lebanon since the October 7 attack by Hamas started the war in Gaza Hezbollah says it will ease those strikes which have uprooted tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border only when theres a ceasefire in GazaHochstein told Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help get Israelis back in their homes according to a US official The official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks said Hochstein stressed to Netanyahu that he risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a fullscale war in LebanonHochstein also underscored to Israeli officials that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the tensions on Israels northern border in conjunction with a Gaza deal or on its own the official said Netanyahu told Hochstein that it would not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north The prime minister said Israel appreciates and respects US support but will do what is necessary to maintain its security and return the residents of the north to their homes safelyIsrael Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meanwhile warned in his meeting with Hochstein that the only way left to ensure the return of Israels northern communities to their homes will be via military action his office saidIn Gaza the US says Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal in principle and that the biggest obstacles now include a disagreement on details of the hostage and prisoner swap and control over a buffer zone on the border between Gaza and Egypt Netanyahu has demanded in recent weeks that the Israeli military be allowed to keep a presence in the Philadelphi corridor Egypt and Hamas have rejected that demandThe Hamasled attacks in southern Israel on October 7 killed about 1200 people Militants also abducted 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages About a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead Israels offensive in Gaza has killed more than 41000 Palestinians said Gazas Health Ministry which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count The war has caused widespread destruction displaced a majority of Gazas people and created a humanitarian crisisNetanyahu says he is working to bring home the hostages His critics accuse him of slowrolling a deal because it could bring down his hardline coalition government which includes members opposed to a truce with the Palestinians Asked earlier this month if Netanyahu was doing enough for a ceasefire deal Biden said simply no But he added that he still believed a deal was closeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever