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Demanding ‘maximum flexibility’ in ceasefire talks, Blinken rules out long-term Israeli control of Gaza

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US won’t accept ‘long-term Israeli occupation’ of Gaza Strip, Blinken says, while demanding ‘maximum flexibility’ from both Israel and Hamas to reach compromise on ceasefire deal and hostage release.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

The Biden administration will not tolerate a long-term Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Tuesday, rejecting comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the IDF will remain in key strategic positions in the southern and central Gaza Strip.

Speaking with reporters in Doha upon his arrival in Qatar from Israel on Tuesday as part of a Middle East trip aimed at securing a breakthrough in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, Blinken said he is pushing both sides to show “maximum flexibility” in negotiations.

“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’s leadership – so that we can actually bring this to a conclusion, bring it over the finish line,” Blinken said.

Blinken ruled out Israel retaining control over portions of the Gaza Strip, in response to Netanyahu’s comments earlier on Tuesday vowing not to surrender control over the Philadelphi Route on the Gaza-Egypt border or the Netzarim Corridor, which separates Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, from Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south.

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“Israel will not leave, under any circumstances, the Philadelphi Route or the Netzarim Corridor, despite incredible pressure to do so,” Netanyahu told relatives of Israelis killed or taken captive on October 7th. “These are strategic assets, both military and political.”

“The United States,” Blinken said in response Tuesday, “does not accept any long-term 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.”

When questioned directly about Netanyahu’s pledge, Blinken said that he “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 – the detailed plan.  And that plan, among other things, as I said, includes a very clear schedule and locations for withdrawals.”

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