U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has responded after Israel delayed the vote on the ceasefire agreement reached yesterday.
Antony Blinken said he is “confident” and expects the ceasefire and hostage deal to take effect on Sunday, despite the delay in the Israeli cabinet’s vote on the agreement, according to CNN.
“Look, it’s not surprising that in such a challenging and loaded negotiation, we might have delays at the end. We are trying to avoid these delays,” Blinken said in a press conference today.
“I have been on the phone in one way or another all morning with our Middle East lead, Brett McGurk, with our friends in Qatar, and I’m very confident that this issue is moving forward and we’ll see the implementation start on Sunday,” Blinken added.
On Thursday morning, Israel delayed the vote in the cabinet regarding the Gaza ceasefire and the hostage agreement, blaming Hamas for rejecting parts of the deal.
