RIYADH: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads Thursday to key Hamas mediator Qatar as he seeks momentum to end the Gaza war following Israel’s killing of the group’s leader.
Two days after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Blinken was flying Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the Qatari capital Doha to hear assessments on where Hamas stands on a truce.
Blinken is paying his 11th trip to the region since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, after repeated disappointment as he seeks to end the devastating Israeli retaliatory campaign in the Gaza Strip.
But days ahead of US elections, President Joe Biden has found new hope after Israel killed Hamas supremo Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.
US officials had described Sinwar as intransigent in negotiations brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt on a ceasefire that would also see the release of hostages from Gaza.
Blinken said he spoke to Israel’s leaders “about the importance of determining whether Hamas is prepared to engage in moving forward, and the Egyptians, the Qataris are doing just that”.
“But I believe that with Sinwar gone, because he was the primary obstacle for realising the hostage agreement, there is a real opportunity to bring them home and to accomplish the objective,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday as he left Israel.
Critics at home and abroad say the issue was not just Hamas but the Biden administration failing to press Israel, which has received a near continuous flow of billions of dollars in US weapons.
Hamas has yet to choose a successor to Sinwar. Two Hamas sources told AFP this week that the group was moving towards appointing a Doha-based ruling committee rather than a single successor.
Blinken said a ceasefire plan laid out by Biden on May 31 remained on the table but also hinted at a willingness to explore “new frameworks” to seek freedom for the more than 100 hostages.
Blinken is also looking for greater clarity on a plan for reconstruction and post-war governance of Gaza, seeing it as a vital component to efforts to end the war.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 and for more than a decade has maintained an office in Qatar, initially with the blessing of Israel and the United States.
The office has allowed communication with the group, whose main patron is US arch-nemesis Iran, with Qatar — a nimble regional player which is also home to a major US base — channelling money to support Hamas governance of impoverished Gaza.
After the October 7 attack, Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas and also killed its Qatar-based political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, while he was visiting Iran in July.