US Secretary of State expresses confidence in agreement between Israel and Hamas
Photo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that he is "confident" and "fully" expects the agreement between Israel and Hamas to come into effect. According to him, this will happen on January 19, CNN informs.
At the same time, in his opinion, the agreement will be implemented, despite the delay in the vote in Israel regarding the deal.
"Look, it’s not exactly surprising that in a process, in a negotiation that has been this challenging and this fraught, you may get a loose end. We’re tying up that loose end as we speak," he said.
Blinken added that "one way or another," he had spent the entire morning on the phone with (Biden's Middle East negotiator) Brett McGurk and "our Qatari friends."
"I’m very confident that this is moving forward and we’ll see the start of implementation of the agreement on Sunday (January 19 - ed.)," Blinken said.
Agreement between Israel and Hamas
On January 15, Israel reached an agreement with Hamas militants regarding the Gaza Strip. As part of the agreement, Hamas agreed to release Israeli hostages in stages. The first stage involves the release of 33 hostages. In total, Hamas may hold 94 people.
On the same day, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the government to approve a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. He announced that the agreement would be put to a vote in the coming days.
However, on January 16, it became known that Israel had postponed the vote on the ceasefire in Gaza and the hostage agreement, accusing Hamas of failing to comply with part of the deal.
For more details on whether the Gaza deal will collapse, read the comment for the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel by Israeli military analyst David Sharp.
