Posted on 01/13/25
| News Source: JPost
A hostage deal is "closer than we've ever been," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Monday afternoon interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, carefully noting the deal's been close before but fell through.
Blinken reiterated the deal's framework is based on the agreement President Biden put forward in May, though he declined to discuss any of the specifics.
When Biden put out the framework, according to Blinken, he made clear that during the first six weeks of the phased agreement, the conflict will stop, and Israel will pull back its forces and release some hostages in exchange for the release of hostages.
During this time, humanitarian assistance will surge into Gaza, and partners will try to finalize an agreement on an enduring ceasefire.
"We’ve done a lot of work on that, and we haven’t waited to get to the ceasefire itself," Blinken said. "We’ve done a lot of work with Arab partners, with Israel, with others to try to get an understanding on what would follow, basically a post-conflict plan, so that the vacuum that’s there – when Hamas is effectively not in charge and Israel pulls out – is filled by something that can run Gaza effectively."