U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ashdod, Israel, on May 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Accepting a ceasefire deal with Israel should be a “no-brainer” for Hamas, but the motivations of the militants’ elusive Gaza-based leadership remain unclear, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has announced that its delegation will return to Cairo on Saturday to resume long-running talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar that would temporarily halt Israel’s offensive in return for freeing hostages. “We wait to see whether, in effect, they can take yes for an answer on the ceasefire and release of hostages,” Mr. Blinken said on May 3. “The reality in this moment is the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas.”

Noting that the militants “purport to represent” the Palestinian people, Mr. Blinken said: “If it is true, then taking the ceasefire should be a no-brainer.” “But maybe something else is going on, and we’ll have a better picture of that in the coming days,” he said.

Editorial |Policy mismatch: On the U.S. and Israel policy 

Mr. Blinken pointed to difficulties negotiating with Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist group and does not engage with directly and which Israel has vowed to eliminate. “The leaders of Hamas that we’re indirectly engaged with — through the Qataris, through the Egyptians — are, of course, living outside of Gaza,” Mr. Blinken said. “The ultimate decision-makers are the folks who are actually in Gaza itself with whom none of us have direct contact.”

Mr. Blinken was addressing the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum in Arizona days after he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top leaders on his latest visit to the Middle East.

Ahead of his talks with Mr. Blinken, Mr. Netanyahu vowed to push ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah regardless of the outcome of truce negotiations.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly warned Israel against moving on Rafah, where an estimated 1.2 million Palestinians have taken shelter.

Mr. Blinken said that Israel, which counts on the United States for military and diplomatic support, has yet to present “a credible plan to genuinely protect the civilians who are in harm’s way”.

“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” Mr. Blinken said.

Global criticism of the war’s toll on civilians has mounted, as has pressure on the Biden administration. The war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The militants also took around 250 hostages, of whom Israel estimates 128 remain in Gaza, including 35 believed to be dead.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 34,622 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Saudis want progress ‘as soon as possible’

Mr. Blinken on Monday held his latest meeting with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to discuss potential normalization with Israel.

“He’s made it clear that he wants to do something on normalization, and he’d like to do it as soon as possible,” but only if conditions are met, Mr. Blinken said.

Before Hamas’s October 7 attacks, Mr. Netanyahu had seen growing Arab recognition of Israel as a key legacy and Saudi Arabia, the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites, would be the most coveted prize.

But Saudi Arabia has made clear it wants a pathway to a Palestinian state, a prospect long resisted by Netanyahu and adamantly opposed by his far-right allies.

“I believe that there can be a Palestinian state with necessary security guarantees for Israel,” Mr. Blinken said. “And to some extent, I think you’d have Israelis who would like to get to real separation. Well, that is one way to do it.”

While in Saudi Arabia Blinken said that the United States was nearly ready with a set of security promises sought by the kingdom in return for normalization with Israel.

A screenshot from a UGC video posted on Facebook on October 28, 2023, shows heavy black smoke billowing from charred vehicles following a collision on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road near Wadi al-Natrun that reportedly left at least 35 people dead and more than 50 people dead.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A passenger bus slammed into a parked vehicle on a foggy Saturday (October 28) morning on a highway linking the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least 32 people, authorities said.

The multi-car pileup, which set some vehicles ablaze, left at least 63 others injured, said the Health Ministry. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the crash on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road to transport the injured to nearby hospitals, it said.

Local media reported that the bus was on its way to Cairo when it hit the parked vehicle. Other cars slammed into the bus with some catching fire.

Footage circulating online showed many burned vehicles on the side of the road with firefighters extinguishing the fire. In one footage many vehicles were seen on fire with thick plumes of smoke billowing from them.

The state-run daily al-Ahram reported that 29 vehicles were part of the crash which took place at the town of Nubariya, about 160kms north of Cairo.

The Egyptian Meteorological Authority warned of heavy fog on highways a day earlier, according to local reports.

Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. The crashes and collisions are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads, or poor enforcement of traffic laws.

An Egyptian policeman shot dead two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide Sunday, local media and Israeli authorities said, as war raged for a second day between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Israel’s National Security Council later said its citizens should consider not travelling abroad particularly in the Middle East “on the backdrop of the attack in Egypt.”

It said visitors already in Egypt should leave “as soon as possible.”

The policeman fired “at random” at an Israeli tour group visiting Alexandria using “his personal weapon”, the state-affiliated private television Extra News said, quoting a security source.

A fourth person was wounded and the policeman was “immediately arrested”, it added.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths in a statement.

“This morning during a visit of Israeli tourists in Alexandria, Egypt, a local opened fire at them, murdering two Israeli citizens and their Egyptian guide,” it said.

“In addition, there is a wounded Israeli in moderate condition.”

Israel’s National Security Council added “there is a fear of a rise in motivation of terror groups and lone assailants” who could carry out attacks on Israelis abroad.

Cairo had not immediately commented on the attack against the tourists.

The deaths came as fighting raged after Palestinian militants on Saturday launched a multi-pronged attack on Israel, which has declared war on the Hamas movement and launched air strikes on Gaza.

Egypt was the first Arab country to forge a peace deal with Israel in 1979, and has long served as an intermediary between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli tourists regularly visit Egypt but, despite the diplomatic relations, Israel remains largely unpopular among Egyptians.

In June, three Israeli soldiers were killed in a firefight at the border with Egypt by a member of the Egyptian security forces who crossed the boundary “in pursuit of drug traffickers”, according to the Egyptian army.

On Saturday, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned of a “vicious cycle of tensions threatening regional stability and security”.