US Secretary of State in Israel: Will there be a ceasefire in Gaza?

The region has been very tense since the Palestinian rebel group "Hamas" attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. More than 1100 people were killed in the attack by Hamas. In addition, Hamas took more than 250 people hostage from Israeli territory. After the

attack, angry Israel launched a counter-attack on Palestine . More than 40,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in ten months of attacks. Most of those killed are women and children. The death toll is 1.7 percent of the total population of Palestine . Similarly, about 60 percent of the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged due to the attack of the Israeli army.

Since then, there have been talks for a ceasefire at various stages, but they have not been successful. US Secretary of State Blinken visited the Middle East region for the ninth time since the start of the war. It is said that he will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders before the start of ceasefire talks in Cairo, Egypt. _{Locals leaving Gaza's Khan Younis area for help after the Israeli attack . Photo : AP}

US President Joe Biden said on Friday that talks on the Gaza Strip are "closer than ever". Mediators said Gaza was close to a ceasefire agreement. The mediators have been saying that they are trying to reach an agreement between the warring parties .

But only on Saturday, a senior official of Hamas said that "American directives" will not be acceptable in the negotiations. Sami Abu Zuhari, a member of Hamas's political bureau, told AFP news agency that there was confusion over progress after two days of talks in Doha. "We are not dealing with an agreement or real negotiations, we are discussing US directives," he said.

After Juhari's reaction, there is also a suspicion that the ceasefire talks that lasted for months have not progressed in a positive direction . At the end of July, after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political head of Hamas, and Iran-backed militant leaders one after the other, Iran has been saying that it will take revenge on Israel. Because of this, the tension in the Middle East has reached a peak. _{After the Israeli attack, the locals are leaving the Khan Yunis area of ​​Gaza. Photo: AP}

The US has repeatedly warned Iran not to take any action against Israel. US officials have been saying that any attack targeting Israel would have dire consequences. Also, the UK, France, Germany and Italy issued a joint statement and expressed their support for the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. They have also urged all parties involved to stress.

In recent days, Israel has intensified its attack on Gaza. Only on Saturday, the Israeli army launched an air attack on South Lebanon. At least 10 people were killed and five others were injured in the attack. The Israeli army has claimed to have attacked a weapons depot of the rebel organization Hezbollah. Likewise, 21 people have been killed in various attacks by Israel in the last 24 hours in Gaza.

This has made the Palestinian side more suspicious. Hamas leader Osama Hamdan has said that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is an obstacle to an agreement on a ceasefire and prisoner exchange. Also, Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha, in a conversation with Al Jazeera TV, accused Israel of placing additional conditions on the ceasefire. Which has increased the suspicion that there will be an immediate agreement.