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[Global Network Report] After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on the 19th, US Secretary of State Blinken said that Israel accepted a proposal for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. However, according to the US "Axios" news network, Israeli officials complained to the media that Netanyahu refused to give Israeli negotiators enough room to reach an agreement. The report said that Netanyahu is a "two-faced person" in ceasefire negotiations. He showed a dovish stance when facing the United States, but a hawkish stance when asking Israeli negotiators.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the 19th local time.

According to Axios, two senior Israeli officials revealed that Israeli negotiators told Netanyahu on the 18th that if he gave the negotiating team more room to maneuver, it would be possible to reach an agreement, but Netanyahu refused to give in and rebuked them for "surrendering." Negotiators told Netanyahu at a briefing that they had been negotiating for several months, but based on Netanyahu's current position, it was impossible to reach an agreement. However, Netanyahu argued that if Israel stood firm, it would be Hamas that would eventually surrender.

The report mentioned that Blinken held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on the 19th. At a press conference after the meeting, Blinken said that Netanyahu confirmed that Israel would accept the ceasefire proposal, and the next step was to get Hamas to agree to the proposal. Blinken did not disclose the details of the ceasefire proposal.

"Axios" stated that Blinken's statement confused some Israeli officials, who revealed that in fact, Netanyahu's hard line made it more difficult to reach an agreement. The US proposal included several of Netanyahu's latest demands, and Netanyahu recognized the proposal, but he knew that Hamas would reject it. Israeli sources believe that Netanyahu's public statement that Israeli negotiators are "cautiously optimistic" about reaching an agreement is a political gesture.

According to Reuters, in response to Blinken's statement that Israel would accept the ceasefire agreement proposal, Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said in an interview with the media that the statement "raises a lot of ambiguity" because "this was neither proposed to us nor agreed to by us."