Blinken urges Israel and Hamas to accept UN-endorsed cease-fire, hostage release agreement (2024)

Secretary of State Blinken returned to the Middle East on Monday. He's pressing leaders to accept an Israeli proposal for a hostage and Gaza cease-fire deal that received a vote of confidence today in the United Nations Security Council. It comes as the fallout from an Israeli hostage rescue that killed hundreds of Palestinians continues. Nick Schifrin reports.

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East today with meetings in Israel and Egypt. He is pressing leaders to accept an Israeli proposal for a hostage and cease-fire deal, one that received a vote of confidence today in the United Nations Security Council.

  But the fallout from an Israeli hostage rescue that killed hundreds of Palestinians continues.

  Nick Schifrin begins our coverage.

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• Nick Schifrin:

  For the eighth time since October the 7th, Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel today to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pressure Hamas to release the hostages and end the war.

  Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: My message to governments throughout the region, to people throughout the region is, if you want a cease-fire, press Hamas to say yes.

• Nick Schifrin:

  On Saturday, Israel took matters into its own hands and today released this new video, police and intelligence operatives storming into a Hamas compound in the middle of Gaza in the middle of the day to rescue Israeli hostages, confirmed in Hebrew, including Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir Jan.

  But, by then, the Israelis' cover had been blown and they had to shoot their way out.

  (Gunshots)

• Nick Schifrin:

  Leading to this scene in the nearby Al-Aqsa Hospital. Hamas says more than 270 people died, but it did not distinguish between civilians and militants.

  Residents rushed away from the gunfight, dragging their children, including those with four legs, angry not just at Israel, but at fellow Arabs.

• Woman (through interpreter):

  People in the Arab world are eating our olives and olive oil, and our children are dying in the streets. The world sold us out. My kids died in the streets. God is sufficient for me.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But, in Israel, reunions 246 days later, Noa Argamani back in the arms of her father, a kiss for Almog Meir Jan.

  Orit Meir, Mother of Freed Hostage: Thank you for bringing my son to me, to us.

• Nick Schifrin:

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  Today, the Pentagon denied what it called widespread disinformation and said Israel did not use humanitarian aid trucks or the beach area that receives humanitarian aid over the U.S. military-built pier.

  The families of the hostages still in Hamas captivity rallied to try and pressure Israel's government to accept a cease-fire deal. The pressure on the government is also coming from within after war cabinet member Benny Gantz resigned on Sunday.

• Benny Gantz, Former Israeli War Cabinet Minister (through interpreter):

  Regrettably, Netanyahu is preventing us from advancing toward true victory, which is the justification for the ongoing and painful cost of war.

• Natan Sachs, Brookings Institution:

  After October 7, what Benny Gantz and especially his close partner Gadi Eisenkot, brought for Netanyahu was cover from the center.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Natan Sachs directs Brookings' Center for Middle East Policy. He says Gantz's resignation might increase public pressure, but could reduce private influence pushing Netanyahu to make a deal.

• Natan Sachs:

  He was a voice in favor of a hostage deal, and so in that sense it may diminish things just at the time that Washington is very heavily invested in trying to reach a deal in the short term.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But until that deal can be delivered, the war has no end in sight.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

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