Antony Blinken Gives Update On Ceasefire Efforts

Well, good evening, everyone. Right here? Very good. Thank you. (00:42) Good evening, everyone. We had a good day in Egypt and now in Qatar. I had a chance in Egypt, as you know, to see President Sisi, Foreign Minister Abdelatty, the Intelligence Chief, Abbas Kamel. And here in Qatar, I was just on the phone with the Prime Minister who was traveling to Australia, but saw the Minister of State, Al-Khulaifi. And with our partners in Egypt and Qatar our message is simple, it's clear, and it's urgent. We need to get the ceasefire and hostage agreement over the finish line, and we need to do it now. (01:27) Time is of the essence. Time is of the essence because with every passing day, the wellbeing and lives of the hostages are in jeopardy. Time is of the essence because every single day, women, children, men in Gaza are suffering without access to adequate food, medicine and at risk of being wounded or dying in fighting that they didn't start and they cannot stop. And time is of the essence because with every passing day, there's the danger of escalation in the region. Escalation that we've been working to prevent from day one since October 7th. (02:09) With Egypt and with Qatar, we're united in purpose and united in action. We're working in our different ways to try to ensure that there is not escalation, sending the necessary messages to all of the potential actors, including Iran, including Hezbollah, to avoid taking any steps that could escalate the conflict or spread it. We're united in our work with the parties to try to bring this agreement across the finish line. And Qatar and Egypt in particular are in direct contact with Hamas, working to bring it along as we work to conclude this agreement. (02:53) Now, as I think everyone remembers, President Biden put out a detailed plan for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in May. The entire world endorsed it. The UN Security Council endorsed it. And since then we've been working to bring the parties along with it. A lot of work went into that, and we got to the point where as we were working on implementing that plan, it was necessary hearing from both the parties to provide some clarifications, to provide some additional detail, and that's exactly what went into the bridging proposal that our three countries put forward just a little over a week ago. (03:38) Israel has now accepted that proposal. I heard that directly from Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday. And we hope and expect that Hamas will do the same. That's the critical next step. But once that happens, we also have to complete the detailed implementation agreements that go along with putting the ceasefire into effect. And there, it's very important that everyone do what's necessary to bring the flexibility to the table, to make sure that we can get the implementation agreed, and that the parties to the ceasefire can make good on the commitments that they've made in the agreement. (04:22) So, that's a process that's ongoing at the same time. We're engaged every single day with Israel, and our Qatari and Egyptian partners are engaged with Hamas. And over the coming days, we are going to do everything possible to, one, get Hamas on board with the bridging proposal, and then to make sure that both parties work on and agree to necessary details of implementation that would allow everything to go forward. So that's where we are. And I just return to what I started with, which is a strong sense, a strong commitment on the part of the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and for that matter many other countries on the fierce urgency of now. This needs to get done and it needs to get done in the days ahead, and we will do everything possible to get it across the finish line.

Tom Bateman. Mr. Secretary, you mentioned-

Tom.

You mentioned [inaudible 00:05:31] would involve the withdrawal [inaudible 00:06:04] The Israeli media have quoted Prime Minister Netanyahu today as having said Israel won't [inaudible 00:06:04]. Is that true? And if so, [inaudible 00:06:08].

Well, Tom, here's what I can say. First, going back to the very early days when we put out the, so-called Tokyo Principles about the future, one of them is very clear that the United States does not accept any longterm occupation of Gaza by Israel. More specifically, the agreement is very clear on the schedule and the locations of IDF withdrawals from Gaza, and Israel has agreed to that. So that's as much as I know, that's what I'm very clear about. (06:49) Again, I'm not going to get into the details of the agreement, but it is laid out in the agreement, an agreement that Israel has endorsed, and it is specific as to the locations and the schedule for withdrawals.

Robert.

[inaudible 00:07:07]

I can't speak to what he's quoted as saying, I can just speak to what I heard from him directly yesterday when we spent three hours together, including again, Israel's endorsement of the bridging proposal and thus the detailed plan. And that plan among other things, as I said, includes a very clear schedule and locations for withdrawals. (07:38) But the other thing is it's so clearly in the interest of all concerned, starting with Israel, to bring this to a close. And I think that was also reflected in the conversation that I had. The hostages depend on it, the security of the country depends on it. The ability to really ensure that we don't have the conflict spreading to other places, because Gaza is in many ways the key to making sure that we can actually move things in the North and Lebanon and Hezbollah in a better direction. It's the key to helping make sure that we can take down the temperature in the Red Sea with the Houthis. (08:18) It's the key to seeing if we can pursue a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which both countries remain very interested in. It's the key to actually putting everyone, starting with Israel, on a path to greater peace and security. And of course, it's key to getting the hostages home, which Israelis desperately want to see happen, and we want to see happen. We need to see happen. There are Americans who remain hostage in Gaza. And I was very clear about the American interest in making sure that our people come home to their families, and that the remains of those who have perished are brought back.

Robert.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Thank you-

Robert.

... Mr. Secretary. If this bridging proposal was endorsed and agreed to by both the Egyptians and Qataris, can you help us understand how the proposal was advanced over the course of your [inaudible 00:09:10] today? And you've received the assurances from Israel and you've had the support of Egypt and Qatar as the negotiating partners and intermediaries, has the needle moved at all when it comes to Hamas? And are you more confident today that they will agree to this proposal than you are when left Israel? And if I may, what are your expectations as to the outcomes of talks over the next coming days, when negotiators are set to leave?

So, the bridging proposal that was put forward was put forward on behalf of all three of our countries. The United States put it forward with the full support of Egypt and Qatar. And what's happening now is, among other things, both Egypt and Qatar, in their engagements with Hamas, making very clear as necessary what's in that proposal, explaining it as necessary if there's any confusion, so that Hamas fully understands it and agrees to it. (10:09) As I said before, the bridging proposal is based on the late-May agreement that President Biden put out, endorsed and incorporated in a UN Security Council resolution. And then we heard from both parties different comments on it. We tried to reflect some of those comments in this bridging proposal. And a bridge by definition has two parties to it. There are two points to a bridge, so we've tried to reflect that in the bridging proposal. And now the process is making sure that Hamas fully understands it and what's in it. And I believe that, again, they should be prepared to endorse it, just as Israel has endorsed it. (10:57) And then the critical thing is getting clear understandings on implementation of the agreement. And there are some complicated pieces of business that are involved there. That's exactly why it's so important that the negotiators who are working the details of this have maximum flexibility from the Israeli government and also from Hamas' leadership, so that we can actually bring this to a conclusion, bring it over the finish line. (11:27) And in this, as I said, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar are absolutely united, but they have a unique role in being able to engage with Hamas. We, of course, are deeply engaged with Israel, and the three of us working together, I believe, can get this to where it needs to go. But as always, these things sometimes take more time than you want. (11:52) What we are all united on is the urgency of the moment because, as I said, with every passing day, more bad things can happen to more good people who don't deserve it. And we're united in that and we're going to continue to do the work. (12:10) There's one other thing I should actually have shared with all of you, which is that of course we were intensely focused on Gaza during this visit, but in Egypt in particular, but also here in Qatar, we had extensive discussions about Sudan. And it's very important that people focus on that too, because with everything else going on in the world, the worst humanitarian situation in the world right now is in Sudan. There are more people in Sudan who are suffering from fighting from violence, from lack of access to food and basic humanitarian assistance. And we are very determined to try to move that to a better place as well. (12:51) We convened talks in Switzerland that are ongoing. At the same time, we've been working very closely with Egypt, with Saudi Arabia, with the United Arab Emirates, with the African Union, not only to try to get a cessation of hostilities and bring the parties together around that, and a way to verify the agreements that they hopefully will reach, but also to get humanitarian assistance into the tens of millions of people who need it. (13:23) We have an agreement now over the last couple of days that critical access points in Sudan to allow humanitarian systems to get in will be opened by both the SAF and the RSF, the two competing parties. And we obviously need to see that move forward, but that's critical in bringing life-essential assistance to people who desperately need it. And as we're doing that, of course, we're working on trying to get a broader agreement on a cessation of hostilities. And there again, the work, the coordination with Egypt has been absolutely critical. And I didn't want to leave this without telling you that this is something that we spent a fair bit of time on as well.

Thanks, everybody.

Thanks, everyone.

Thanks, guys.