Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will end his term in office as US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, spoke with The New York Times about the war against Hamas in Gaza, and the possibility for a ceasefire-prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas.
In the conversation, Blinken stressed that a deal has been "so close on several occasions" and outlined the two main obstacles preventing a deal from being reached: Firstly, "Hamas, when they saw Israel under pressure publicly, they pulled back" from their previous agreement to a ceasefire and releasing hostages.
The other obstacle is Hamas' hope and belief that there would be a broader conflict, with Hezbollah, Iran, and other actors attacking Israel. If such a scenario played out, "Israel would have its hands full and Hamas could continue what it was doing."
When asked about humanitarian aid to Gaza, Blinken recounted that during his first trip to Israel following the October 7 massacre, he and his team spent nine hours working to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
He stressed to the Times, that Israel was "a totally traumatized society. This wasn’t just the prime minister or a given leader in Israel. This was an entire society that didn’t want any assistance getting to a single Palestinian in Gaza."
US President Joe Biden had a trip to Israel scheduled for a few days afterwards, and Blinken used that as leverage, saying that he would tell Biden to cancel his trip if Israel did not provide Gaza with assistance.
Hamas takes over approximately half of all aid entering Gaza, including by firing at anyone who attempts to approach. The aid taken over by Hamas is then sold for a high price, and the money used to fund the terror group's continued operations.
When asked by the Times if he believes there are still hostages alive in Gaza, Blinken answered in the affirmative. But when asked if Netanyahu prevented a ceasefire deal from being reached in July, Blinken said: "No, that’s not accurate."
"What we’ve seen time and again is Hamas not concluding a deal that it should have concluded," he stressed, questioning, "Why there hasn’t been a unanimous chorus around the world for Hamas to put down its weapons, to give up the hostages, to surrender?"