Informed Israeli sources accused US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Wednesday of sabotaging the ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip, and said he called them a "death sentence."

The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted sources it described as informed without naming them as saying that "Blinken made a very serious mistake by saying that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu accepted the American proposal, and the ball is now in Hamas's court."

It considered that the US Secretary of State "seriously sabotaged the negotiations, and made a very serious mistake, and this indicates naivety and lack of understanding."

The sources explained that Blinken "spread optimism for internal American political considerations, so that the Democratic Party conference in Chicago (which began on Monday and continues until Thursday) would proceed smoothly."

It added: “However, senior officials in the Israeli negotiating team who listened to his press conference wanted to dispel these speculations, after Blinken issued a death sentence on the deal, sided with Netanyahu and presented him with a gift.”

It stressed that “there will be no agreement or summit if Israel continues to insist on deploying forces along the Philadelphi Corridor,” on the border between Gaza and Egypt.

The same sources explained that “what Blinken’s words mean is that the United States is providing support to Netanyahu to keep Israeli army forces in Philadelphi, while the Egyptians and Hamas refuse to do so.”

It stressed that expectations were that Blinken “would call on Israel and Hamas to be flexible,” but instead “he embraced Netanyahu and distanced himself from Hamas.”

Blinken had previously said after meeting Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, as part of a tour that also took him to Egypt and Qatar, that Netanyahu had agreed to the deal proposal, holding Hamas responsible for the failure of the negotiations, which prompted the movement to consider his statements “clear bias toward Netanyahu.”

On Tuesday, the Hebrew newspaper Maariv quoted Netanyahu as telling representatives of the families of Israeli prisoners in Gaza: “Israel will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor (separating the central and southern Gaza Strip) under any circumstances, despite the enormous pressure it is under to do so.” On Sunday, Netanyahu stressed his insistence on maintaining his forces’ control over the Philadelphi Corridor, and opposition leader Yair Lapid accused him of stalling and sabotaging the negotiations.

Source: Sama