US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence that a ceasefire deal in Gaza would come together, but possibly after President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20, AFP reports.
Blinken, who tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully last year to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, said that the Biden administration “will work every minute of every day” until the end of its term to secure a hostage deal.
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks,” Blinken told reporters on a visit to Seoul.
“If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later,” Blinken said.
“When it does, it will be on the basis of the plan that President Biden put forward and that virtually the entire world supports.”
Blinken said there had been an “intensified engagement” by Hamas on reaching a deal, but that it was not yet complete.
“We need Hamas to make the final necessary decisions to complete the agreement and to fundamentally change the circumstance for the hostages, getting them out, for people in Gaza, bringing them relief, and for the region as a whole, creating an opportunity to actually move forward to something better,” Blinken said.
