Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted that pressure on Israel caused Hamas to pull back from potential ceasefire and hostage deals, in an interview with the New York Times that was released in a podcast Saturday.
From the transcript (via State Department):
SECRETARY BLINKEN: I think the question we had was: How can we most effectively both shape the conflict but also bring – bring an end to the conflict? And the focus on getting a ceasefire/hostage agreement was what was in our estimation the quickest and most durable way to get an end. And as I said, Hamas – one – when they saw Israel under pressure publicly, they pulled back. The other thing that got Hamas to pull back was their belief, their hope that there’d be a wider conflict – that Hizballah would attack Israel, that Iran would attack Israel, that other actors would attack Israel, and that…
