Blinken expresses frustration at attacks he says threaten to ‘derail’ Gaza talks

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has expressed frustration at surprise escalations that he said threaten to derail efforts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

He said the US is still assessing the previous day’s deadly pager explosions, linked to Israel, in Lebanon.

Mr Blinken spoke in Egypt, where he travelled for talks on the Gaza ceasefire negotiations and US-Egyptian relations.

The United States and international partners, including Egypt, are working to broker a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and to reduce tensions as Israeli leaders threaten to step up military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Speaking in answer to a question about the previous day’s explosions in Lebanon, Mr Blinken said “time and again” when the US and other international mediators believe themselves to be making progress in a ceasefire deal for the war in Gaza “we’ve seen an event that makes the process more difficult, might derail it”.

Explosive attacks using personal pagers used by members of the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon killed at least 12 people on Tuesday. Israel has not publicly spoken on whether it was responsible.

Mr Blinken spoke of Hamas’ killing earlier this month of six of the several dozen hostages that Hamas-led militants have held in Gaza since capturing them on October 7, in the attack in Israel that launched the war.

At the time news came of the six hostages’ killing, negotiators had been making progress on the timing and other details of a swap that would have freed hostages in exchange for a freeing of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention, Mr Blinken said.

Mr Blinken on Wednesday repeated administration statements that the US was still gathering information on the circumstances of the pager attacks, and declined more specific comment on them.

Mr Blinken also said the most dire need in the talks for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza was for both sides to show they actually wanted a deal.

“The most important thing in this moment is to see a demonstration of political will,” Mr Blinken said.

He was speaking on his 10th trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began. The trip was billed in part as a chance to consult with Egypt on refining terms of a final proposal to present to Israel and Hamas.