RIYADH: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he is hopeful Hamas will accept an “extraordinarily generous” ceasefire offer to stop Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive in return for the release of hostages.

“Hamas must decide, and decide quickly, whether to accept the extraordinarily generous offer for a ceasefire. I am hopeful they would make the right decision, and we can make a fundamental change in the dynamics,” the US official told a World Economic Forum panel in Riyadh.

A high-level Egyptian delegation flew in to Israel for talks last Friday amid a new diplomatic push for a truce in the six-month hostilities and the release of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militants.

The conflict in Gaza, which began following the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has resulted in the deaths of almost 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and reduced 75 percent of the besieged enclave into rubble according to authorities there.

“We are working with partners trying to bring the conflict to an end, trying to ensure it does not spread and all of it is a collective effort. The quickest way to bring the Gaza conflict to an end is to get to a ceasefire and the release of hostages,” Blinken said, as he thanked Egypt and Qatar for their instrumental role in pushing for a truce and the release of hostages.

Blinken also reiterated US opposition to an impending Israeli military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah in the absence of a plan to ensure civilians will not be harmed.

“We have not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that civilians can be effectively protected,” Blinken said.

Israel has for weeks threatened to launch an all-out offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas’s remaining forces.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who spoke during a WEF panel a day earlier, said the US “was the only country capable” of preventing Israel’s long-feared invasion of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians are currently living.

Only a “small strike” on Rafah would force the Palestinian population to flee the Gaza Strip, and the “biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people’s history would then happen,” Abbas said.

Blinken said there was a “need to be ready for a day-after plan for Gaza to include what is to be done about security, governance and administration and humanitarian and reconstruction needs.

“A lot of work has been done on that, more work needs to be done,” he said.

Blinken also said that the “single biggest rebuke to both Iran and Hamas would be Israel having normal relations with every country in the region and the realization of the Palestinian state.

“The US and Saudi Arabia have done intense work together over the past months to focus on the Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement. I think it is is potentially close to completion,” he said.

“But for the normalization to move forward … two things would be required: calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.”

Blinken earlier joined the opening of a US-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, where he told the region’s foreign ministers that the best way to ease the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza would be to negotiate a ceasefire agreement that would release hostages held by Hamas.

The top US diplomat met separately with Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan, minister of foreign affairs, where they reviewed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and joint cooperation in various fields, the Saudi Press Agency said.

JERUSALEM: Israel is voicing concern that the International Criminal Court could be preparing to issue arrest warrants for government officials on charges related to its war against Hamas.
The ICC — which can charge individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — is investigating Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack and Israel’s devastating military assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, now in its seventh month.
In response to Israeli media reports that the ICC might soon issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli government and military officials, Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Sunday warned Israeli embassies to bolster their security because of the risk of a “wave of severe antisemitism.”
“We expect the court (ICC) to refrain from issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli political and security officials,” Katz said. “We will not bow our heads or be deterred and will continue to fight.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that any ICC decisions would not affect Israel’s actions but would set a dangerous precedent.
Israeli officials are worried that the court could issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and other top officials for alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, Israeli media have reported.
They said the ICC is also considering arrest warrants for leaders from Hamas.
The ICC, based in The Hague, and Hamas, Gaza’s ruling group, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Israel is not a member of the court and does not recognize its jurisdiction, but the Palestinian territories were admitted with the status of a member state in 2015.
In October, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said the court had jurisdiction over any potential war crimes committed by Hamas fighters in Israel and by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Khan has said his team is actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed in Gaza and that those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable.
On Oct. 7, Hamas led an attack on Israeli military bases and communities in which 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 253 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel has since launched a ground, air and sea offensive that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, and has laid much of the small, densely populated coastal territory to waste.
The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants in its casualty reports but most of the fatalities have been civilians, health officials say.
Israel says that it takes precautions to minimize civilian deaths and that at least a third of the Gaza fatalities are combatants, figures that Hamas has dismissed.
Israel’s military campaign has displaced most of the blockaded Palestinian enclave’s 2.3 million people and created a humanitarian crisis.
The case at the ICC is separate from a genocide case launched against Israel at the International Court of Justice, also based in The Hague.
The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is a United Nations court that deals with disputes between states, while the ICC is a treaty-based criminal court focusing on individual criminal responsibility for war crimes.