STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel has agreed to a cease-fire proposal for the war in Gaza.
A MART脥NEZ, HOST:
That announcement came after the U.S. secretary of state met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for three hours yesterday in Jerusalem. After announcing Israel's backing of the deal, Blinken called on Hamas to do the same.
INSKEEP: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is in Tel Aviv to give us the latest. Hi there, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey, Steve.
INSKEEP: I feel like I've heard this before. The United States is saying that Israel is on board. What is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying?
LONSDORF: Yeah, well, as usual, it's a little complicated. But basically, Netanyahu has not said directly that he's endorsing this new proposal put forward by mediators at the end of last week in Doha. You know, it's meant to bridge the final gaps between Israel and Hamas. We've seen this before, Steve, like you said. Just because America says that they have an agreement from Israel, it doesn't mean that's what we're hearing from Israel. Netanyahu's office did put out a statement last night after his talk with Blinken, but it did not mention agreeing to this bridging proposal. Instead, it focused on efforts to get as many hostages out of Gaza as possible.
Hamas, on the other hand, has put out a statement responding pretty negatively to this bridging proposal, saying that they're for a cease-fire and want to end the war, but this new proposal put forward last week caters to Netanyahu's demands too much on several key sticking points. And they blame him for fully obstructing the deal. Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his office blame Hamas for obstructing the deal.
INSKEEP: You just called it a bridging proposal. Do you know what's in it?
LONSDORF: No. Blinken and the others have not said exactly, you know, how this proposal would overcome the outstanding issues. But we do know what those issues are. First, Hamas wants a permanent end to the war, and Netanyahu won't make that promise. Second, Netanyahu wants to keep Israeli forces along the border between Egypt and Gaza. That's something that neither Egyptians nor Palestinians want. And third, Israel wants some kind of screening process to make sure Palestinian civilians returning back to the north in Gaza are unarmed. These have been really key sticking points, and neither side has seemed that willing to budge on them in the past.
INSKEEP: OK, so that's what Secretary Blinken says he got out of a visit to Israel. What does he do now as he heads to other countries, other powers involved, Egypt and Qatar.
LONSDORF: Yeah, so these are the two other countries that mediated this agreement along with the U.S. Egypt is expected to host the renewed cease-fire talks later this week. Qatar is where some Hamas officials are based, so it's very likely that Blinken will be there pushing for Hamas to sign off on the deal. You know, Steve, I should say, all of this diplomacy has added urgency because of threats from Iran and its proxies to retaliate for an assassination on Iranian soil that Israel was widely presumed to be behind. The feeling is that, you know, as long as a cease-fire in Gaza is a possibility, Iran will hold its fire.
INSKEEP: I was thinking about that, just the drama, if that's the right word...
LONSDORF: Yeah, there's a little bit here.
INSKEEP: ...Of Iran being ready to strike, of Hezbollah being ready to strike maybe, maybe not. And I guess we should note that the war in Gaza continues. Israel continues its offensive there. What's going on?
LONSDORF: So according to health officials in Gaza, more than 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes there just in the past few days. If there had been a cease-fire agreement last week, those casualties could've been avoided. And more than a hundred Israeli hostages are languishing and possibly even dying in captivity there as well. The Israeli military just announced this morning that six bodies of hostages were recovered from Gaza overnight. All of them are thought to have died in recent months. Also, disease is spreading in Gaza. Just last week, the first confirmed case of polio was reported, and international health officials are warning of an outbreak if they can't get in and vaccinate. So on the ground in Gaza, people really don't have days or weeks to wait while these details get hammered out.
INSKEEP: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is reporting from Tel Aviv. Thanks as always.
LONSDORF: Thanks so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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