US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday for his seventh visit to the region since the October 7 Hamas attacks and subsequent war in Gaza, said the Palestinian militant outfit should accept the ‘generous’ truce deal.
He said he remains hopeful that Hamas will accept the “extraordinarily generous” offer to halt Israel’s Gaza offensive in return for the release of hostages.
“Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” Blinken said in Riyadh while addressing attendees at the World Economic Forum.
“They have to decide — and they have to decide quickly. I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision,” Blinken said.
The US secretary of state also said that the US-Saudi security pact for Israel normalisation is nearing ‘completion’.
He said the US is close to finishing the security pact with Saudi Arabia which will be offered if and when it makes peace with Israel. “The work that Saudi Arabia, the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion,” Blinken said in Riyadh.
Speaking of the Rafah military operation that the US is trying to deter Israel from undertaking, Blinken said that the US is yet to see a plan that offers protection to over a million residents and internally displaced Palestinians who are now in Rafah.
“We have not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that civilians can be effectively protected,” Blinken told a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.
(with AFP inputs)
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