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[Global Network reporter Li Ziyu] According to Reuters, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv on the 18th local time to promote a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hours after Blinken arrived, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) questioned his mission and accused Israel of undermining Blinken's efforts.

On the 18th local time, Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel. Source: Screenshot of British media report video

Reuters said Hamas said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was responsible for "frustrating the efforts of mediators," delaying a ceasefire agreement and putting Israeli hostages in Gaza in danger.

Reuters mentioned that a senior US State Department official said that Blinken has visited the region for the ninth time since the outbreak of a new round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in October last year, and he will meet with senior Israeli officials including Netanyahu on the 19th. The report added that Blinken will go to Egypt after visiting Israel.

A senior Biden administration official reportedly told reporters on his way to Tel Aviv that negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza are now at a "turning point." "We think this is a critical moment," the official said.

Reuters added that after months of intermittent negotiations, mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt have so far failed to bridge their differences to reach a ceasefire agreement, and violence in the Gaza Strip continued unabated on the 18th.

According to a previous report by Xinhua News Agency, ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip resumed in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on the 15th, and were suspended on the 16th, and will resume in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Regarding this round of ceasefire negotiations, the parties expressed different views: Hamas opposed the "new terms" proposed by Israel; Israel asked the mediator to put pressure on Hamas to force it to accept the ceasefire plan; the United States expressed cautious optimism.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the health department of the Gaza Strip said on the 15th that since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have caused more than 40,000 deaths. In response, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement on the 15th, saying that "today is a cruel milestone for the whole world" and "this unimaginable situation is mainly caused by the Israeli Defense Forces' repeated failure to abide by the rules of war."