Skip to content Skip to footer

Blinken Warns of Ceasefire Deadline as US Pledges Even More Arms to Israel

Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected the idea of a ceasefire even as the U.S. keeps up a charade of negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) speaks ahead of his meeting with Israel's President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on August 19, 2024.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Monday that it may be the last chance for negotiators to achieve a ceasefire deal as Israeli leaders continued to reject a ceasefire and demanded that any deal allow them to exercise military control in Gaza.

In remarks amid his visit to Tel Aviv, Blinken said that this round of negotiations is “the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.”

Blinken suggested that an escalation of tensions between Israel and Middle Eastern countries opposed to the genocide would jeopardize the deal — seemingly insinuating that, if all-out war were to break out, negotiators would have no choice but to allow Israel to continue the genocide. This is ironic as senior officials from Iran and other countries in the Middle East have said that a ceasefire is the only way to draw down tensions.

“It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process, and so we’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line or, for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places and to greater intensity,” said Blinken. “It is time for everyone to get to yes and to not look for any excuses to say no.”

However, a deal is not looking likely due to Israel’s insistence that the agreement to secure a ceasefire does not actually include a ceasefire at all. Hamas officials have said that they are supportive of the three-phase ceasefire deal that the U.S. presented in May, but Israel has repeatedly rejected the deal.

The U.S., Qatar and Egypt presented a new ceasefire deal on Friday. The details of that deal are unclear, but Hamas negotiators have said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is obstructing a deal because of his continued insistence that Palestinian negotiators give up all leverage and allow the genocide to continue.

According to Hamas negotiators, the latest deal “is in line” with Netanyahu’s demands, allowing Israel to keep its troops in Gaza and maintain control over the Rafah crossing, the Philadelphi Corridor that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt, and the Netzarim Junction, which separates the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas also said that Netanyahu has placed new conditions on the prisoner exchange as Israel holds thousands of Palestinians in torture camps. The ceasefire deal would force Hamas to release all of the remaining living Israeli hostages — an unknown number between 50 and 120 — while Israel would release some of the Palestinians it has detained, but it’s unclear how many.

The likely failure of yet another round of ceasefire talks is a show of the U.S.’s refusal to use its leverage in order to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire. In fact, the U.S. has been seemingly encouraging Israel to continue its military incursions; last week alone, the Biden administration approved another $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel, after approving the sending $3.5 billion to Israel to buy weapons the week before.

That the U.S. continues to tout its ceasefire talks while seemingly making no progress toward a deal is a show that the process is merely a distraction, some commentators have said, that buys time for Israel to continue its genocide, which has killed at least 40,000 Palestinians so far, and likely far more.

“Initially, their primary purpose was to serve as a fig leaf for Israel to continue with its genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip. In other words, their purpose is process, and their objective has therefore been to avoid reaching a ceasefire agreement rather than concluding one,” said Middle East commentator and analyst Mouin Rabbani on social media on Saturday.

“Just as Oslo served as the essential fig leaf enabling Israel to intensify settlement expansion and annexationist policies, while Washington ran interference for Israel with a ‘peace process’ designed to go nowhere, so with these ceasefire negotiations that commenced many months ago,” Rabbani continued.

Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One

Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.

Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.

Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.

As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.

And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.

In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.

We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.

We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $150,000 in one-time donations and to add 1,500 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.

Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.

If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!

With gratitude and resolve,

Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy