This is a crucial moment – probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to bring home the hostages, reach a ceasefire and embark on a path towards lasting peace and security, says Blinken during a meeting with Israel's President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.
It's time to get it done. It's also time to make sure no one does anything to derail the process, adds Blinken.
The minister's Middle East trip is his ninth since the outbreak of war in October, which followed the brutal surprise attack by Hamas, labeled as terrorists, against Israel.
After the meeting with Herzog, Blinken met with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for three hours, reports the newspaper Haaretz. The meeting in Jerusalem focused on the hostage issue and was held "in a positive spirit", according to a statement from Netanyahu's office.
Five Children Killed
On Tuesday, Blinken will continue on to Egypt's capital Cairo, where further talks on a ceasefire will be held this week.
The negotiations are complicated by continued reports of multiple civilian deaths in Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip. In the past 24 hours, Israel's military claims to have attacked "over 45 terrorist targets" in the area.
On Sunday, it was reported that around 20 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on southern and central Gaza. Among the victims were a photojournalist and a mother and her six children – a 1.5-year-old and 10-year-old quintuplets.
The children have been turned into body parts. They have been placed in a single body bag, said the children's grandfather Mohammed Awad Khatab to reporters in Dayr al-Balah.
Mixed Statements
The latest round of attempts to reach a ceasefire has been ongoing since last week, when new talks began in Qatar.
After two days of talks in Doha, American and Israeli officials expressed cautious optimism. However, Hamas representatives accused Israel of having deviated from parts of the proposal that the Islamist movement had previously accepted. In a statement on Sunday, the movement again accused Netanyahu of putting obstacles in the way of the efforts to reach an agreement.
US President Joe Biden says he is hopeful about the ongoing negotiations.
It's still ongoing. We're not giving up, he said to reporters at the presidential retreat Camp David on Sunday.
