By Humeyra Pamuk
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the temporary truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas has produced results and that the United States expects it to continue.
Sitting alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Blinken said Washington is focused on helping secure the freedom of hostages taken to Gaza during the Oct. 7 attack, during which Israel says Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 Herzog said that around 150 hostages remain in Gaza.
‘We have seen in the last week the very positive development of hostages returning home, reunited with their families. And this must continue today. It has also enabled an increase in humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians in Gaza who are in desperate need,’ Blinken said.
‘So this process is producing results. It’s important, and we hope it can continue,’ said Blinken.
The meeting in Tel Aviv occurred on a morning when two Palestinian attackers opened fire at a bus stop during rush hour at the entrance to Jerusalem, killing at least three people and wounding eight others, according to Israeli police.
Both Blinken and Herzog condemned the attack.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel and Hamas reached a last-minute deal to extend the six-day ceasefire in Gaza for another day to allow negotiators to continue working on agreements to exchange hostages held in the enclave for prisoners. Palestinians.
In Jerusalem, Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a US official said. He would then meet with Israel’s war cabinet and, separately, with opposition leader Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz.
The truce brought the first relief to Gaza in seven weeks, during which Israel heavily bombed the territory in response to the October 7 attack.
It also allowed humanitarian aid into Gaza after much of the coastal territory of 2.3 million people was reduced to wasteland by Israel’s retaliatory military campaign.
Israel has promised to annihilate Hamas, which rules Gaza. Health authorities in the enclave say Israeli bombing of the territory has killed more than 15,000 people.
