Blinken urges: Stop the escalatory actions, we need a ceasefire

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged all parties in the Middle East not to take “escalatory actions” a day after Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh was eliminated in Tehran.

“Right now, the path that the region is on is toward more conflict, more violence, more suffering, more insecurity. And it is crucial that we break the cycle. And that starts with a ceasefire,” Blinken said, as quoted by CNN.

“To get there, it requires all parties to stop taking any escalatory actions,” he added.

Blinken said he couldn’t predict the effect of “any one event on what comes next,” but a “ceasefire to have an end to the conflict in Gaza to produce calm in the north, between Israel and Lebanon” was in the interest of everyone.

All parties need to find “reasons to come to an agreement, not to look for reasons to delay or say no to the agreement,” he said.

Blinken said he has been talking to his colleagues throughout the region over the last 24 hours and they were all focused on reaching a ceasefire. He expressed confidence that a deal could still be reached because it is “imperative that we do so.”

The US has been leading efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that would include a hostage release deal.

US President Joe Biden in late May outlined a three-phase proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal. He recently indicated that both Israel and Hamas had agreed to the outline and reiterated his determination to implement the proposal.

Last week, a US official said that the negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are in their "closing stages".

On Thursday, a source told Axios that Haniyeh was seen as a hardliner in the negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release deal and it was determined that removing him would remove an obstacle to a ceasefire deal, despite the "pragmatic" face Haniyeh attempted to present to the mainstream media.

"Haniyeh presented a pragmatic face to the mediators but internally inside Hamas led a hard line," the source said.