U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel to press for a cease-fire deal with Hamas, saying “the time is now.” Blinken warned that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to get an agreement to halt the war in Gaza off the ground. He greeted the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza who were protesting outside a meeting between him and Israel’s president, telling them that setting their loved ones free was “at the heart of everything we’re trying to do.” Blinken is trying to advance a truce that would free hostages in exchange for a halt in the fighting and delivery of much needed food and aid to Gaza.
