Blinken in Israel to push for a cease-fire, sustained aid into Gaza

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00:00 Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel.

00:03 He met with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli leaders today.

00:08 This is Antony Blinken's seventh visit to the region, which of course was plunged into

00:12 conflict October 7th when Hamas attacked Israel.

00:15 Now Blinken told Netanyahu the U.S. still opposes a planned Israeli ground operation

00:20 into the Gazan city of Rafah.

00:22 He also talked about how to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza while also urging Hamas once

00:27 again to accept the deal that would release hostages and achieve a truce, saying Hamas

00:33 would bear the blame for any failure to get a deal off the ground.

00:38 We're determined to get a ceasefire that brings the hostages home and to get it now.

00:45 And the only reason that that wouldn't be achieved is because of Hamas.

00:49 There is a proposal on the table and as we've said, no delays, no excuses.

00:56 The time is now and the time is now long past due to bring the hostages home to their families.

01:04 Fraser Jackson in D.C.

01:05 I'm going to bring you back in here.

01:06 Fraser, we just heard there the U.S. Secretary of State walking this fine line between saying

01:10 yes we'll get the hostages back home but also yes we'll get more aid into Gaza.

01:14 I can see what he's hoping to achieve here, but is he going to get it?

01:18 Well, it's a fine line that the U.S. has been trying to walk ever since October 7th.

01:24 And it's a line which has caused anger on both sides, the pro-Palestinian and the pro-Israeli

01:29 side here in the U.S., both feeling like the government is not doing enough.

01:33 Now we are hearing from those reports that are coming out of the region, especially from

01:37 one Axios report, who it must be said has been quite accurate and been proven to have

01:42 quite high-level connections in the Israeli government, that Netanyahu told Blinken during

01:46 that meeting that he won't accept any deal that means ending the war.

01:51 Of course, Netanyahu vowed just on Tuesday to continue with the operation in the southern

01:56 town of Rafa, whether there was a ceasefire or not.

01:59 That of course is something that the U.S. has strongly opposed for a long time.

02:03 Blinken told Netanyahu again on Wednesday that the U.S. does not support this war effort

02:09 in Rafa.

02:10 They still have not seen any credible plan on how to deal with the over one million Palestinians

02:15 that are currently taking shelter in that region.

02:18 And that is something we've had confirmed by the State Department and other parts of

02:21 the government as well.

02:23 Now Antony Blinken's main message during this is obviously to try to get more aid into the

02:27 Gaza Strip.

02:29 We are told that around 5,000 trucks have entered the Strip since the beginning of April,

02:33 but that is simply not enough.

02:36 And Antony Blinken has heralded the opening of the Erez crossing in the north of the Gaza

02:42 Strip so more aid can come in from Jordan.

02:45 That of course is something that is deliverable that Joe Biden got from Netanyahu on his call

02:50 with Netanyahu over a month ago, a very fiery phone call.

02:55 But yes, simply not enough being done in the eyes of the American government.

02:58 They're trying to stave off this operation as they await the response from Hamas on whether

03:03 the ceasefire deal will go ahead or not.

03:05 Fraser, thank you for that.

03:06 Fraser Jackson reporting for us.

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