From the Liveblog of
Friday, December 1, 2023
Blinken: Truce came to an end because Hamas reneged on commitments, fired rockets at Israel
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken places the blame for the truce coming to an end this morning squarely on Hamas.
“It’s important to understand why the pause came to an end. It came to an end because of Hamas. Hamas reneged on commitments it had made,” he tells reporters before departing from Dubai where he was in town for the day to attend the COP28 climate conference.
“In fact, even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem, killing three people and wounding others, including Americans,” Blinken continues. “It began firing rockets before the pause ended, and as I said it reneged on the commitments it made in terms of releasing certain hostages.”
Israel says Hamas failed to provide a list of hostages it intended to release by 7 a.m. as stipulated in the truce agreement that had been in place since last Friday.
Blinken clarifies that the US remains committed to getting all of the remaining hostages home and discussed the matter with foreign counterparts while in Dubai.
