US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Monday he is going to Egypt and Qatar, “our two critical partners in this effort” to get the ceasefire agreement over the finish line, to get the hostages home, to put everyone on a better path to lasting peace and security.
In a press statement released by the State Department, Blinken said he is looking forward to consulting with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim on the immediate steps ahead, and in particular, what needs to be done to ensure that Hamas comes along, agrees to the bridging proposal, and that everyone then works on finalizing a clear understanding of their commitments to implement the agreement.
“This is now my ninth trip to the region since October 7th,” he said, citing a US intense global diplomatic campaign, working with countries around the world to send the message strongly to every concerned party not to take any steps that would escalate tensions, that would risk provoking a wider conflict. “And this too has been something we’ve been working on from day one, since October 7th. It’s been one of our primary objectives to prevent the conflict from escalating, from spreading to other places,” he said.
“What’s most crucial now is that everyone – everyone – refrain from taking any actions that could fuel further conflict, escalate tensions, and result in the spreading of violence and conflict,” he stressed.
He noted that last week President Biden put forward a proposal with Qatar and with Egypt to try to bridge the gaps that remain between the parties so that we could get agreement to what the President put out there a couple of months ago. And then the parties, with the help of the mediators – the United States, Egypt, and Qatar – have to come together and complete the process of reaching clear understandings about how they’ll implement the commitments that they’ve made under this agreement.
On the humanitarian situation, he said “both specifically, for example, about polio because we very much share the concern about the possibility of its re-emergence, and we’ve been working on a detailed plan to make sure that those who need to be vaccinated against it can get vaccinated, and we’re working with the Israeli Government on that. And I believe that we’ll be able to move forward with a plan to do that in the coming weeks. It is urgent; it is vital.”
“More broadly, there are very, very important issues that continue to need to be resolved in order for people to get the assistance they desperately need, whether it’s food, whether it’s medicine, whether it’s appropriate shelter, whether it’s dealing with things like treating the sewage that’s accumulated throughout Gaza and that promotes an acute – that presents an acute health hazard, that’s an incubator for disease. All of that was very much on my agenda today.”(MENA)
