©Reuters. Smoke rises during an Israeli raid on Al Shifa hospital and the surrounding area, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza city, March 21, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
By Humeyra Pamuk and Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Arab officials aimed at pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, after the Israeli prime minister told American Republicans there would be no truce in the war against Hamas.
In Gaza itself, the Israeli military offensive focused for a fourth day on Al Shifa Hospital, the only partially functioning medical facility in the northern Strip, and local residents said they saw burning buildings inside the complex .
Blinken began his latest Middle East tour in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud for talks on Gaza, where food shortages affect 2.3 million Palestinians and in some areas exceed famine levels, according to the United Nations.
“We are pushing for an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of the hostages. This would bring immediate relief to so many people suffering in Gaza: children, women, men,” Blinken told Arab broadcaster Al Hadath.
He said the United States had drafted a resolution at the United Nations to that effect.
Ceasefire talks resumed this week in Qatar after Israel rejected Hamas’ proposal last week. The sides are discussing a truce of about six weeks that would allow the release of 40 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
However, Hamas says it will only release the hostages as part of a deal that would end the war, while Israel says it will only discuss a temporary pause.
“I think the gap is closing and I think a deal is absolutely possible,” Blinken told Al Hadath. “The Israeli team is present, they have the authority to reach an agreement.”
Blinken and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi together reviewed progress in the talks, Sisi’s office and the U.S. State Department said.
Al-Sisi underlined the need for a truce to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and warned of the dangers of a military operation in Rafah, the last zone of relative safety for civilians, where more refugees now find themselves of half the enclave’s population, pressured against terrorist attacks. Egyptian border.
Near Al Shifa, residents told Reuters via a chat app that the army had blown up nearby houses while buildings in the hospital complex burned.
Rabah, a father of five, said the area was a war zone, with people trapped in their homes during clashes in the streets.
“Israel has sent tanks back into the heart of Gaza city to destroy what remains of its homes and streets. All of this is happening before the eyes of the one-eyed world,” he said.
ISRAEL SAYS MILITANTS HIDDEN IN HOSPITAL
Israel said its troops killed more than 50 Hamas gunmen the previous day, bringing the number of fighters killed around the hospital to 140, along with two Israeli soldiers.
It said it had located terrorist infrastructure and weapons in and around the facility, showing images of AK-47 automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and other artillery.
Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said “many Hamas terrorists – operatives and seniors” were hiding in the hospital along with Islamic Jihad militants.
“When we entered the hospital, we found terrorists fighting against us here in this area,” he said.
Hamas denied the hospital harbored militants and said those killed were injured and displaced patients.
Video footage released by Hamas showed its militants outside the Al Shifa compound, carrying weapons and firing at Israeli tanks in streets reduced to rubble. The location of the buildings and the outline matched satellite images checked by Reuters.
Blinken was expected to meet on Thursday with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, as well as the Emirati minister of international cooperation and the secretary general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the ministry said of the Egyptian Foreign Office.
Egyptian sources said Arab nations will stress to Blinken the urgency of finding a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In his meeting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince on Wednesday, Blinken reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the creation of an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel.
Authorities are pushing to end six months of fighting that has killed nearly 32,000 Palestinians, including 65 killed in the previous 24 hours, according to Gaza health authorities.
The war was sparked by militants from Hamas, which controls Gaza, who swept into southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Republican US senators on Wednesday, telling them that Israel will continue its efforts to defeat Hamas.
His comments underlined growing tensions with the US administration of President Joe Biden, which has urged Israel to do more to ease the humanitarian crisis and protect civilians.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said on the “Call Me Back with Dan Senor” podcast that Israel will continue to invade Rafah, despite growing international concern about the impact of such an offensive.
“It will happen. And it will happen even if Israel is forced to fight alone,” he said.
“Even if the whole world turns against Israel, including the United States, we will fight until the battle is won.”