Blinken meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Blinken is today meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier, he met with Netanyahu and discussed the latest efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages, as well as the importance of increasing the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching civilians in Gaza, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
Blinken meets Israel's president
TEL AVIV — As part of his intense day of appointments, Blinken met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Herzog said the timing of Blinken's visit came at a “critical moment in the conflict.”
Blinken said both the U.S. and Israel are "intensely" looking at Hamas' proposals for a hostage deal. He added that he hoped those who remain in captivity could be freed soon.
Hamas cease-fire proposal includes prisoner release, aid and plan to rebuild Gaza, source says
Hamas has proposed a cease-fire plan that would include the release of 1,500 prisoners, including 500 people serving life sentences, an Arab source told NBC News today.
The proposal also says that all displaced Gazans should be allowed to return to their homes and should be given complete freedom of movement inside the enclave, the source said.
The source added that 500 aid trucks should be allowed to enter Gaza and that 60,000 mobile home units and 200,000 tents should be transported into the strip for those who have been displaced from their homes.
Hamas has also proposed that a three-year plan should be developed, laying out a roadmap for the rebuilding of homes and other infrastructure destroyed in the war with Israel, the source said.
The source added that the militant group wants a return to the pre-2002 status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and a ban on extremist Jewish settlers from entering it.
Known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, the area is the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest site in Islam.
Doctor treats gunshot victims at Khan Younis hospital
With discarded medical supplies strewn on the floor and bloodstains on the ground at a semi-functioning hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, Dr. Muhammed Harrara told an NBC News crew yesterday that he was treating gunshot victims.
“These injured are displaced families living in hospital, living in the school, around the hospital,” he said, adding that they had been shot by a quadcopter, a type of helicopter that has four rotors.
Among his patients at Nasser Hospital was a young boy with his chest bandaged up. A woman holding his hand said the bullet entered his body through his back.
“Is he going to be fine?” the woman asked.
“Yes, he will be discharged. Yes, it will go back to the way it was,” Harrara replied.
Netanyahu to hold Jerusalem news conference on Hamas hostage deal
Netanyahu is set to hold a news conference in Jerusalem later today, his office said in a statement after he met with Blinken.
A source in his office told NBC News earlier that Israel was pessimistic about reaching a deal with Hamas after reviewing the cease-fire proposal put forward by the militant group.
Blinken meets Netanyahu and IDF chief of staff in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV — Blinken met with Netanyahu today in Tel Aviv.
The meeting ended in just over an hour before Blinken then met with Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military's chief of staff.
Blinken, who is on his fifth visit to the region since the war broke out, is trying to advance the cease-fire talks while pushing for a larger postwar settlement in Gaza.
Saudi Arabia says it will not engage in diplomatic relations with Israel until it recognizes Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia’s will not engage in diplomatic relations with Israel unless it recognizes an independent Palestinian state, the kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement today.
The statement posted to X said Saudi Arabia had communicated its firm position to the Biden administration that “there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders,” referring to lands seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.
It added that east Jerusalem should be the capital of this state.
French leaders join tribute to Hamas victims in Paris
French Republican Guards walk with portraits of the 42 French citizens killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, in the courtyard of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris today.French President Emmanuel Macron attended the ceremony.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the French opposition far-right party Rassemblement National, also joined the tribute.
Israel 'will never agree to' Hamas' cease-fire proposals, source tells NBC News
TEL AVIV — Israel’s government is pessimistic about the possibility of a deal with Hamas after receiving the militant group's proposals for a cease-fire deal, a source connected to Netanyahu's office told NBC News today.
The response to an offer sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators suggests a halt in fighting as the hostages are freed and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip before an agreement is reached on ending the war.
It comes in the biggest diplomatic push yet for an extended halt to the fighting, but the source said it was unlikely to be approved by the Israeli government.
“The fact that Hamas is asking for a cease-fire for Israelis to withdraw its forces, that’s something that Israel will never agree to,” the source in Netanyahu's office said. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Hamas' demands and Israel’s apparent rejection injects new pessimism into hostage negotiations that had been hammered out by intelligence chiefs and leading politicians from four nations in Paris nearly two weeks ago, including CIA Director William Burns.
Israel’s government will discuss Hamas’ reaction to the proposal today and will hold further discussions in the war Cabinet and security Cabinet tomorrow, the source said. But given Hamas’ demands, even those further conversations might be canceled, the source added.
Israel has made clear that it will not pull its troops out of Gaza until Hamas is wiped out — an objective that renders Hamas’ demand for a full and final cease-fire an impossible starting point.
Blinken in Israel for high-stakes meetings as hostage talks go on
Blinken is in Tel Aviv today where he is expected to kick off hostage talks with key Israeli officials, amid mounting pressure for a cease-fire and a permanent end to the war in Gaza.
Hamas' proposal — a response to an offer sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators — comes in the biggest diplomatic push yet for an extended halt to the fighting, and was met with hope and relief in the Gaza Strip.
It arrived just before Blinken met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Blinken said yesterday. “But we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed essential. And we will continue to work relentlessly to achieve it.”