By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/blinken-urges-hamas-to-accept-bridging-proposal-agreed-to-by-israel Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and said this week’s talks about a cease-fire in Gaza and hostage deal were “the best, maybe last” opportunity to release the hostages and at least pause the war. William Brangham speaks with Nick Schifrin about the proposal and remaining points of disagreement. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. William Brangham: Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel today and said this week's talks about a cease-fire in Gaza and a hostage release were — quote — "the best, maybe the last opportunity to release those hostages and at least pause this war."Nick Schifrin is here and he has been following this all along.Nick, what is the state of these current talks? Nick Schifrin: Blinken said today that Israel had accepted language designed to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas. This is Blinken speaking today earlier to reporters in Tel Aviv.Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: The critical next step is for Hamas to accept the bridging proposal that Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu, has now accepted and then to engage with everyone else on making sure that we have clear understandings of how each party would actually implement the commitments that it's undertaken in this agreement. Nick Schifrin: So what does that mean?Recall that there is an overall agreement on the framework for the first phase, a six-week cease-fire, the release of more than 30 hostages from Hamas and 700 Palestinian detainees from Israel and the humanitarian aid surge in Gaza with a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.But, William, regional officials tell me that the two sides remain far apart, especially over changes that Israel has demanded in the last six weeks that this bridging proposal language is designed to overcome.That includes, number one, this. Israel insists on control of Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor. That is between Gaza and Egypt. Hamas this weekend called that — quote — "an obstruction" to reaching an agreement.Number two, checkpoints inside Gaza to screen Gazans moving from south to north. Number three, Israel is insisting that the more than 30 hostages released in the first round all be alive. That is new. That was not part of the last deal. And U.S. officials do not believe there are enough female, elderly, or infirm hostages to release that number, so actually American hostages might be moved higher than the list.And, number four, Israel is insisting on being able to veto the release of certain Palestinian detainees, something Hamas again called — quote — "new conditions and demands."And, overall, the public statements from both sides really reveal that the gaps remain. Here's Netanyahu speaking today — quote — "I greatly appreciate the understanding that the U.S. has shown for our vital security interests."But Hamas yesterday said — quote — "The new proposal responds to Netanyahu's conditions, aligns with them."Tonight, William, Hamas has just given an interview saying that they have already conceded what Israel said was enough and they are not in the mood for any new conditions. William Brangham: So why is it making this deal perhaps this week so critical? Nick Schifrin: U.S. officials believe that if there is no deal this week, Iran and Hezbollah are likely to follow through on their vow to attack Israel for two high-profile assassinations in Tehran and Beirut, one of which Israel accepted publicly, one of which they did not.That attack would likely derail instantly any of these talks about Gaza, because U.S. officials still believe that the best way to forestall an Iranian attack and, frankly, perhaps a war between Hezbollah and Israel is a cease-fire in Gaza. William Brangham: Nick Schifrin, as always, thank you so much. Nick Schifrin: Thank you. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Aug 19, 2024 By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, and has created weeklong series for the NewsHour from nearly a dozen countries. The PBS NewsHour series “Inside Putin’s Russia” won a 2017 Peabody Award and the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In 2020 Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the NewsHour teams awarded a 2021 Peabody for coverage of COVID-19, and a 2023 duPont Columbia Award for coverage of Afghanistan and Ukraine. Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza; reported on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders; and covered the annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage. From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. Schifrin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). @nickschifrin