Departing Israel, Blinken calls to ‘get the hostages home and bring the war to an end’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urges Israel to use the opportunity created by its success in dismantling much of Hamas’s capacity in Gaza and the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to reach a longer term solution in the conflict.

“Now is the time to turn those successes into an enduring strategic success. And there are really two things left to do, get the hostages home and bring the war to an end with an understanding of what will follow,” Blinken tells reporters as he prepares to depart Israel for Riyadh.

Blinken says that there has been “progress” made in increasing aid to Gaza, “which is good, but more progress needs to be made and, most critically, it needs to be sustained.”

The visiting diplomat also calls on Israel to avoid “greater escalation” in its response to Iran’s October 1 missile attack.

“It’s also very important that Israel respond in ways that do not create greater escalation,” he says.

Boarding his flight to Riyadh, Blinken adds that Israel should seize the “incredible opportunity” to move toward Saudi normalization.