US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept a truce in Gaza on Tuesday, April 30, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to launch a military offensive on Rafah “with or without” a deal.
Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday to push for a much-awaited ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza. He was asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to go ahead with a ground assault on Gaza’s civilian-packed city of Rafah regardless of the outcome of negotiations on a temporary ceasefire.
Netanyahu, who has vowed to destroy Hamas over its October 7 attack, said stopping the war “before achieving all of its goals is out of the question.” “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal,” he told families of some of the hostages still being held in Gaza, his office said.
Blinken did not respond directly to the question, saying that Washington’s focus was on reaching a truce deal, which is being brokered by Egypt and Qatar, and credited Israel with compromising in negotiations. “That (a truce) is the best way, the most effective way, to relieve the suffering and also to create an environment in which we can hopefully move forward to something that is really sustainable and has lasting peace for the people who so desperately need it,” he said.
Erez crossing reopens
Blinken saw off a first Jordanian truck convoy of aid heading to Gaza through the Erez crossing reopened by Israel earlier that day. “Right here in Jordan, we’re seeing a direct route from Jordan to northern Gaza through Erez. The first shipments are leaving today,” Blinken told reporters as he saw the supplies. “It is real and important progress, but more still needs to be done,” he said.
Israel, amid rising international pressure, had recently assured it would allow more aid to pass through Erez border gateway with northern Gaza, which has been devastated after the nearly seven months of war and is on the brink of famine, according to UN and other aid groups.
The crossing has not been used much since the war broke out on October 7, and Israeli officials have said that it needed to be rebuilt after it was destroyed by Hamas militants who stormed through it during their attack on southern Israel.