Blinken: Israel has ‘effectively’ dismantled Hamas

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that Israel had accomplished its objective of “effectively dismantling” Hamas, and that negotiations over a cease-fire and the release of dozens of Israeli hostages would resume “in the coming days.”

Blinken, speaking to reporters in Qatar, which has served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, said negotiators would return to Doha to renew the talks.

“What we really have to determine is whether Hamas is prepared to engage,” Blinken said on his 11th visit to the region since the start of the war.

Hamas’s political representatives have not so far signaled a softer stance.

“There is no change in our position,” senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese broadcaster seen as closely aligned with Iran and its allies.

Hamdan said Hamas delegates heard from mediators in Cairo about the potential to revive cease-fire negotiations but reiterated that the group still insists on an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, as well as its complete withdrawal from the territory.

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said the head of the Mossad, the country’s spy agency, would travel to Qatar on Sunday to meet with CIA director Bill Burns and the Qatari prime minister.

The United States hoped to revive the negotiations after Israeli forces killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza last week, but neither side has shown signs of moderating its demands from months of negotiations that sputtered to a halt over the summer.

Blinken also announced an additional $135 million in U.S. aid to the Palestinians, while again urging Israel to allow more assistance to enter the territory.

An Israeli strike on a school in the central Gaza Strip killed at least 17 people on Thursday. The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas terrorists inside the school.

Israel has carried out strikes on several schools-turned-shelters in recent months, saying it precisely targets terrorists hiding out among civilians.

The Israeli military also says it is battling Hamas fighters who regrouped in the north, which was one of the first targets of the ground offensive at the start of the war.

Meanwhile, the Israeli campaign has expanded to Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion over three weeks ago after trading fire with the Hezbollah terrorist group for much of the past year.

Lebanese health officials reported another day of intense airstrikes and shelling Thursday, which they said killed 19 people over the last 24 hours and raised the overall Lebanese death toll to 2,593 since the conflict started in October 2023.

The Israeli military on Thursday announced the deaths of four reservists who were killed the day before in combat in southern Lebanon, making Wednesday one of the deadliest days for Israel in Lebanon since it launched its ground invasion on Sept. 30.

Israel estimates it has killed 2,000 Hezbollah terrorists since its military began fighting the Lebanese Shiite group along its northern border in October 2023.

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Amiri reported from Doha, Qatar, and Khaled reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed.