US Secretary of State Blinken warns Israel against 'complicating matters'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made statements following his meetings in Israel, which he visited after his 6th Middle East tour.

Stating that he focused on the prisoner exchange in the meetings, Blinken said, “We’ve made progress in the hostage negotiations over the last few weeks, we’ve closed gaps, but almost by definition, when you get to the final issues, they tend to be the hardest. So there is still a lot of work to be done, hard work to be done, but we are committed to doing it.”

Noting that he addressed the difficulty of increasing and sustaining humanitarian aid to Gaza, Blinken said, “100 percent of the population in Gaza is experiencing severe levels of acute food insecurity. 100 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance. Some positive steps have been taken to improve the situation, but it is not enough, and we talked about what needs to be done to get aid to many more people much more effectively.”

"A GROUND OPERATION IN RAFAH RISKS ISOLATING ISRAEL"

Noting that they also discussed the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where Israel is planning an offensive, Blinken said, “A major military ground operation in Rafah would risk further killing of civilians, risk further wreaking havoc with the delivery of humanitarian assistance, risk further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security and standing.”

Stating that they will host Israeli officials in Washington next week, Blinken said, “This really requires an integrated humanitarian, military and political plan. As I said, we will talk about this next week and we will go into the details of what we see as the best way forward.”

"THERE ARE SOME DIFFICULT ISSUES"

Telling reporters who asked for detailed information regarding the ceasefire talks in Doha that he could not provide too many details, Blinken said, “But I can say that we are deeply involved in these negotiations, we are working with the Qataris, we are working with the Egyptians, and we are working with Israel.

We have closed the remaining few gaps, but the closer you get to the goal line, the harder it gets. So there are some difficult issues that need to be worked on, but we are committed to doing everything we can to get there and get people home.

Our negotiators will also be working hard to see if we can achieve this,” he said.

BLINKEN'S WARNING: DO NOT COMPLICATE MATTERS

When asked about reports that Israel had announced the seizure of 800 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank, Blinken said, “I hadn't seen the report you're referring to. But you know our views on the expansion of settlements.

You know our views on everything from demolitions to evictions to other steps, unilateral steps that are taken, that make the already difficult two-state prospect even more distant. So I haven't seen the details of this issue, but taking steps that will make things even more difficult during this period will be a problem for us,” he said.