On Saturday, Hamas claimed that some 50 captives held by the group had been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Jonathan Finer, President Joe Biden’s deputy national security adviser, told America’s CBS news channel yesterday: “We don’t obviously have yet a hostage agreement, but again, we’re working very hard to get one.”
“And if that were to take place, just being able to move hostages around the battlefield in a way that is safe, get them to a gate leading outside of Gaza would take time… so we believe a pause would be appropriate in that context.”
Mr Blinken’s meeting with Mr Abbas took place in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and came as the Hamas-run Gazan health ministry claimed that Israeli military operations had now claimed the lives of more than 9,700 Palestinians.
In an apparent nod to Palestinian concerns, Mr Blinken discussed with Mr Abbas the need to curb “extremist violence” by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank.
He also said that the Palestinian Authority should play a central role in governing the Gaza Strip once the Israeli military operation to end Hamas’s rule there was over, sources said.
Mr Abbas, however, has not had any sway in Gaza since 2006, when Hamas won elections that portrayed him and his Palestinian Authority as weak, corrupt and too much under Israel’s influence.
Mr Blinken also said the United States was committed to getting aid into Gaza and restoring essential services there, according to State Department officials.
