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Blinken: ‘90% is Agreed’ on Gaza Ceasefire Deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the end of his one-day visit to Haiti at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port Au Prince on September 05, 2024. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the end of his one-day visit to Haiti at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port Au Prince on September 05, 2024. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/Pool via REUTERS
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Blinken: ‘90% is Agreed’ on Gaza Ceasefire Deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the end of his one-day visit to Haiti at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port Au Prince on September 05, 2024. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the end of his one-day visit to Haiti at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port Au Prince on September 05, 2024. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/Pool via REUTERS

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday it was incumbent on both Israel and Hamas to say yes on remaining issues to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal, which has faced obstacles in negotiations across months.

"Based on what I have seen, 90% is agreed but there are a few critical issues that remain," including the so-called Philadelphi corridor on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, Blinken said at a press briefing in Haiti.

He said there were also some gaps in the agreement in how Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are exchanged.

"I expect in the coming days, we will share with Israel, and they (Qatar and Egypt) will share with Hamas our thoughts, the three of us, on exactly how to resolve remaining outstanding questions," Blinken said, referring to the US and mediators Qatar and Egypt.

President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal on May 31, but since then gaps have remained on a final agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza.

Hamas has rejected any Israeli presence in the Philadelphi corridor, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not abandon the corridor.

This week, Türkiye, five Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority joined Egypt in rejecting Israel's demand to keep its troops deployed in the Philadelphi corridor.

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Arab World

Algerians to Vote as Incumbent Tebboune Poised for Easy Victory

(FILES) Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is pictured at the Borgo Egnazia resort during the G7 Summit in Savelletri near Bari in Italy on June 14, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
(FILES) Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is pictured at the Borgo Egnazia resort during the G7 Summit in Savelletri near Bari in Italy on June 14, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
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Algerians to Vote as Incumbent Tebboune Poised for Easy Victory

(FILES) Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is pictured at the Borgo Egnazia resort during the G7 Summit in Savelletri near Bari in Italy on June 14, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
(FILES) Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is pictured at the Borgo Egnazia resort during the G7 Summit in Savelletri near Bari in Italy on June 14, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

Around 24 million Algerians are poised to head to the polls on Saturday for a vote in which experts say incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune faces no real risk to his rule as he seeks a second term.
His main challenge, though, is achieving a higher turnout than in 2019, when he was declared president with 58 percent of the vote but with a record abstention rate of over 60 percent.
"The President is keen to have a significant turnout," Hasni Abidi, an Algeria analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center, told AFP. "It's his main issue."
Abidi said Tebboune "has not forgotten that he was elected in 2019 with a low turnout. He wants to be a normal president and not a badly elected one", he said, referring to Tebboune's election five years ago amid the massive Hirak pro-democracy protests.
Tebboune, 78, is the clear favorite to see off moderate Abdelaali Hassani and socialist candidate Youssef Aouchiche in the race to lead the country of some 45 million people and Africa's largest exporter of natural gas.
Although he has distanced himself from political parties and is presented as an independent candidate, Tebboune's bid is backed by major political parties, including the historic FLN, which led Algeria's independence fight against France.
Hassani, a 57-year-old civil engineer, is the leader of the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), Algeria's main party.
Aouchiche, a 41-year-old former journalist and parliamentarian, heads the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), Algeria's oldest opposition party with a historic stronghold in the Berber-majority Kabylie region. The FFS has boycotted elections in Algeria since 1999.
Voting abroad
Polling stations abroad opened on Monday, with over 800,000 Algerians set to cast their ballots overseas. Mobile stations meant to collect votes in Algeria's remote areas began their work on Wednesday.
Campaigning took place at the height of a searing hot summer, which drove down attendances.
Every candidate has courted the youth vote, with young people making up over half the population, offering promises on social and economic issues to improve purchasing power and make the economy less dependent on hydrocarbons.
Fossil fuel exports account for about 95 percent of the North African country's hard currency revenues.
Tebboune, however, says he has already succeeded in rectifying the country's past wrongs and putting Algeria -- currently Africa's third-largest economy -- back on track.
Such achievements, he says, have come despite "a war against Covid-19 and corruption".
On foreign policy, there appeared to be a consensus among the candidates on issues relating to Palestinians and Western Sahara, the disputed territory which Morocco -- Algeria's regional rival and neighbor -- claims as its own but whose independence Algiers backs.
More freedoms
Tebboune's two challengers have vowed to grant more freedoms.
Aouchiche says he is committed "to release prisoners of conscience through an amnesty and to review unjust laws", including on media and terrorism.
Hassani has advocated for "freedoms that have been reduced to nothing in recent years".