Blinken says incumbent on Hamas, Israel to remove gaps in Gaza ceasefire deal

By Kanishka Singh and Daphne Psaledakis

(Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday it was incumbent on both Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to say yes on remaining issues to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal, which has faced obstacles in negotiations across months.

"Based on what I have seen, 90% is agreed but there are a few critical issues that remain," including the so-called Philadelphi corridor on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, Blinken said at a press briefing in Haiti.

He said there were also some gaps in the agreement in how Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are exchanged.

"I expect in the coming days, we will share with Israel, and they (Qatar and Egypt) will share with Hamas our thoughts, the three of us, on exactly how to resolve remaining outstanding questions," Blinken said, referring to the U.S. and mediators Qatar and Egypt.

President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal on May 31, but since then gaps have remained on a final agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza.

Hamas has rejected any Israeli presence in the Philadelphi corridor, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not abandon the corridor.

This week, Turkey, five Arab countries including regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian Authority joined Egypt in rejecting Israel's demand to keep its troops deployed in the Philadelphi corridor.

Asked whether it was still possible for Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations, Blinken said "there remains an opportunity" to do that if a ceasefire was achieved in Gaza.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered last Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has since killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; additional reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates)