Blinken 'confident' Gaza cease-fire will take into effect on Sunday

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed confidence Thursday that a cease-fire in Gaza will be implemented as of Sunday, despite Israel postponing a cabinet vote.

"I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said on Sunday," Blinken told reporters during his final press briefing.

Noting his recent engagements with Qatari mediators to resolve remaining issues, he said he is "very confident" about the start of implementation of the agreement this weekend.

"It's not exactly surprising that in a process, in a negotiation, that has been this challenging and this fraught, you may get a loose end. We're tying up that loose end as we speak," he said.

On whether the cease-fire deal could have been reached earlier, Blinken said: "Do I wish we could have gotten the ceasefire agreement months ago? Of course. the suffering, the lives lost could have been avoided if we'd gotten this over the line sooner."

"But in something as complex, as complicated, where different events have intervened and the work that we've done, the progress we were making toward bringing it to conclusion, was delayed or derailed," he added.

He attributed the delays to the complexities of negotiations and external events that disrupted progress.

"Our defense, our diplomacy, our deterrence really isolated Hamas to the point where they finally came back to the table," he said.

'OTHER ACTORS, INCLUDING TÜRKİYE'

Blinken also detailed US efforts, including those to ask Qatar and Türkiye to pressure Hamas to sign the cease-fire deal.

"In recent weeks, we went also to other actors, including Türkiye, President (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan, to use his weight and influence to get Hamas back to the table to try to conclude an agreement, and he did", he said.

"It's a long way of saying that all of these things coming together over many months, I believe, is what's gotten us here"

Qatar announced a cease-fire agreement Wednesday to end more than 15 months of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have claimed the lives more than 46,000 people since Oct. 7, 2023. The onslaught has reduced the territory to rubble and caused a humanitarian disaster.

The deal includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.