The White House said it would support a pause that was longer than the week-long halt in November, as it confirmed that Brett McGurk was in Egypt for discussions and would visit other key countries.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the Biden administration was opposed to any permanent change to Gaza’s territory, but kept the door open to possible support for any “transitional arrangements” to resolve the conflict with Israel.
“If there needs to be transitional arrangements to enable that to happen, that’s one thing. But when it comes to the permanent status of Gaza going forward, we’ve been clear, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory,” Blinken told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria.
The developments came after US news site Axios reported Israel had proposed to Hamas, via Qatari and Egyptian mediators, a pause of up to two months in exchange for the release of all hostages. READ MORE
