International pressure is building on Hamas to accept Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal.
As per USA Today, at Monday’s World Economic Forum in Riyadh, representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Jordan, and Egypt met in an effort to bring an end to the six-month war in Gaza. During the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Hamas to accept Israel’s “generous” offer.
“Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” Blinken said. “The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas. They have to decide and they have to decide quickly.”
The first phase of the Israeli proposal would reportedly see a 40-day ceasefire and the release of less than 40 of the approximately 133 remaining hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. In exchange, Israel would release thousands of jailed dangerous Arab terrorists. The second phase would involve a “period of sustained calm” followed by further negotiations.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron also called on Hamas to take Israel’s generous proposal.
“It does seem to me there is now, let’s be frank, a pretty generous offer of a sustained 40-day ceasefire and the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the release of these hostages, who have now been in captivity for over 200 days,” he said.
“I hope Hamas does take this deal, and frankly, all the pressure in the world and all the eyes of the world should be on them today, saying ‘take that deal.’ It will bring about this stop in the fighting that we all want to see so badly.”
