Nearing the end of a whirlwind Middle East trip this week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken finished meetings with the Israeli president and relatives of American hostages held by Hamas, left his beachside hotel in Tel Aviv and shook hands with protesters gathered outside.
He looked them in the eye and said there was a new hostages-for-cease-fire deal on the table that Hamas should take.
“Bringing your loved ones home is at the heart of everything we’re trying to do, and we will not rest until everyone — man, woman, soldier, civilian, young, old — is back home,” he said.
That public show of empathy with frustrated protesters is something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided since the war began in October.
And, lately, he has focused his recent public comments on an imminent ground offensive — an invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza “with or without” a cease-fire deal, as the Israeli leader put it on Tuesday.
Persons:
Antony J, Blinken, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu
Organizations:
Hamas
Locations:
Tel Aviv, Rafah, Gaza