Commentary: The anatomy of an Israel-Hamas hostage deal
In February, Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the Middle East for meetings in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the West Bank. The central purpose of that trip was to hammer out a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which President Joe Biden’s administration hoped would stop the violence and ultimately boost the prospects of a normalization accord between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The mission failed.
Nearly three months later, Blinken is in the region again to do pretty much the same thing. Much has changed. For one, an Iranian air defense system in central Iran days later.) The tit-for-tat between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon has heated up over the last week, with both increasing the range of their attacks. Israel’s military, meanwhile, is preparing for an offensive in Rafah, a city on the Gaza-Egypt border that is the last refuge for more than 1 million Palestinian refugees displaced from their homes.
