(Bloomberg) -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a last-minute decision Friday to meet in Tel Aviv with protesters pushing Israel to strike a deal that would bring home the hostages still being held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
“We trust you Blinken — close a deal!” they chanted.
“We’re working to bring them home,” Blinken replied, shaking hands before boarding a black sport utility vehicle and speeding off in his motorcade to the airport at the end of his sixth Middle East tour since the war began last fall.
His visits began shortly after the Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union.
These trips are starting to take on a ‘Groundhog Day’ quality,” said Brian Katulis, a former White House and State Department official who is now at the Middle East Institute in Washington, referring to the 1993 movie with Bill Murray caught in a time loop.
Despite Blinken’s frequent travel through the region, there’s little evidence the persistent US diplomat has made much headway. The death toll in Gaza has climbed above 30,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, while the United Nations warns of a looming “man-made” famine.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is openly spurning US warnings against an invasion of Rafah, the Gaza city where more than 1 million people have sought shelter from the fighting. At the same time, Blinken’s public travels risk being overshadowed by private cease-fire negotiations with Israel, Hamas and Arab nations led by CIA Director William Burns, though both are clearly part of the Biden team’s broader efforts
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On Friday, the final day of a typically grueling eight-day tour that stretched from Europe to Asia and then to the Middle East, Blinken met with Netanyahu to discuss a hostage deal, getting more aid into Gaza and the Rafah campaign. He said the US would spell out alternatives to an invasion when a delegation of Israelis visits Washington next week.
“I came back to Israel as a friend and to have candid conversations, as friends do,” Blinken told reporters on the tarmac before departing Tel Aviv for Washington.
“We share Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas,” he said. “A major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it. It risks killing more civilians. It risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance. It risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security.”
That warning was met by an equally stern rejoinder from Netanyahu, who said Israel hoped for US support but would press forward in Rafah without it, if necessary.
US officials maintain that while the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire, it would be even worse without efforts by Blinken and President Joe Biden, who keep pushing Israel to let in aid, open border crossings, implement humanitarian pauses in the fighting and better coordinate military operations with aid workers distributing food and supplies.
Now, a focus centers on securing a six-week cease-fire deal that could free hostages and open avenues for a more sustained end to the fighting. On that note, Blinken’s message was mixed.
“We made progress in the last couple of weeks on the hostage negotiations — closing gaps But almost by definition when you get down to the last items, they tend to be the hardest,” he said. “So there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
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