U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that a ceasefire in Gaza in the near future depends on Hamas.
Blinken said ahead of talks with the Turkish delegation in Washington that the United States was continuing its efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, despite reports on Thursday that Hamas negotiators had left talks in Cairo.
Blinken told reporters: “At this moment, we are also very concerned about whether a ceasefire can be achieved. The question is Hamas. The question is whether Hamas will decide to cease fire. “A ceasefire is beneficial to everyone. The ball is in their court. We are stepping up our efforts to do so. ”
Blinken also pointed to plans to deliver aid to Gaza by sea, announced by U.S. President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address Thursday night.
The plan, a joint project including the European Union, Cyprus, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, will use a temporary terminal on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast through which aid can be delivered to the enclave.
Speaking in Cyprus on Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she expected the corridor to be operational on Sunday, if not earlier, with initial pilots launching on Friday.
Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations’ senior humanitarian coordinator for Gaza, told reporters on Friday that the United Nations welcomed the plan. But she noted that maritime corridors and aid airdrops are not a substitute for delivering life-saving aid by truck overland.
Regardless, she said, the maritime program would be of vital help.
Meanwhile, five people were killed when a parachute malfunctioned and a package hit a residential area in northern Gaza’s Shati refugee camp, medics and witnesses reported on Friday.
Mohammed Sheikh, head of emergency care at Al Shifa Medical Center in Gaza City, confirmed the death.
The United States, Jordan, Egypt and several other countries conducted humanitarian airdrops over Gaza on Friday, and it was unclear who was responsible for the malfunctioning package.
A U.S. defense official told CBS News that a preliminary review indicated the U.S. airdrop was not related to the deaths on the ground, but said further investigation was needed.
Information for this report was provided in part by The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.
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