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Blinken warns “maybe the last opportunity” for Israel-Hamas cease-fire on 9th visit during Gaza war
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog for talks at what he called a “decisive moment” in the war between Israel and Hamas. The top U.S. diplomat said it was “maybe the last opportunity” to secure a long sought-after cease-fire and hostage release agreement, and to bring an end to the war in Gaza sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
“I’m here as part of an intensive diplomatic effort on President Biden’s instructions to try to get this agreement to the line and, ultimately, over the line. It is time for it to get done,” Blinken said ahead of his meeting with Herzog. “This is a decisive moment — probably the best, maybe the last opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a cease-fire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.”
“It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process, and so we’re working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations,” he added.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the prime minister had spent about three hours with Blinken during a “positive” meeting. It said Netanyahu had “reiterated Israel’s commitment to the latest American proposal regarding the release of our abductees — which takes into account Israel’s security needs, on which he firmly stands.”
Blinken’s arrival on Sunday marked his ninth visit to the country since Israel launched its war on Hamas in response to the bloody incursion into southern Israel by Hamas, which saw the militants kill nearly 1,200 people and take another back into Gaza as hostages.
Israeli officials believe about 80 of the captives are still being held alive, while the remains of 30 to 40 others have yet to be returned to Israel.
Hamas and Israel continue blaming each other for impasse
In a statement released Sunday, Hamas accused the Israeli leader of placing “more conditions and obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement, in a way that serves his strategy to gain time and prolong the aggression” in Gaza. The group said Netanyahu had recently set “new conditions and demands with the aim of undermining the mediators’ efforts.”
Hamas said its latest terms for a cease-fire “responds to Netanyahu’s conditions and aligns with them,” and suggested the proposal had more of what Netanyahu has said he wants, including dropping demands for a permanent cease-fire, a withdrawal from Gaza of Israel’s military, and for Israel to cede control of Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday that his government was still negotiating, but insisted it would not be “a scenario in which we just give and give.”
“There are things we can be flexible on and there are things that we cannot be flexible on — which we will insist on. We know how to distinguish between the two very well,” Netanyahu said.
A blow after Biden says “closer than we’ve ever been” to cease-fire
The latest statement from Hamas will come as a blow to the months-long U.S. brokered cease-fire negotiations. The White House, along with fellow mediators from Egypt and Qatar, had voiced optimism about how the talks were progressing last week.
In a joint statement, the U.S., Qatar and Egypt said Friday that the talks had been “serious and constructive.”
“We are closer than we’ve ever been” to an agreement, President Biden told reporters at the White House on the same day.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield had outlined the bridging peace proposal that the U.S. and its partners were pushing the two parties to accept.
The deal would ultimately allow for the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, a vaccination campaign to stop the spread of polio in the besieged Palestinian territory, a restoration of services including water and electricity to displaced civilians in the enclave, and efforts to halt the fighting between Hamas’ ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israeli forces, Thomas-Greenfield had said.
On Friday, Gazan health officials also said a child had been confirmed as the first known case of polio in the war-torn territory.
Diplomacy aimed at averting a wider war in the Mideast
Blinken’s visit comes at a delicate time, as the Biden administration works to prevent the ongoing exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah from becoming a much larger regional conflict.
Soon after the war began, Hezbollah launched attacks on northern Israel, voicing support for Hamas and the Palestinian people. Both groups are backed by Iran, and both Tehran and Hezbollah have vowed to take revenge for Israel’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this month, and the July killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Neither Iran nor Hezbollah have specified how or when they will retaliate.
A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling with Blinken on Sunday that the Biden administration believes Iranian officials want to see a cease-fire.
“They don’t want to see regional escalation,” the senior administration official said.
When asked if Iran had agreed to delay its response to the assassinations to let the cease-fire talks progress, a source at the Iranian Embassy in London told CBS News on Friday that the country had “always said that we welcome peace and stability in the region as well as stopping killing innocent people in Gaza.”
Unending misery in the Gaza Strip
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate over the weekend for its roughly 2 million inhabitants, as Israeli strikes across the territory destroyed more buildings, with the military saying it had targeted militants and infrastructure.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health has said the death toll in Gaza has soared to over 40,000 since Oct. 7, and while the agency does not distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties, the U.N. and humanitarian organizations say many of those killed have been women and children.
The latest devastation included an Israeli strike Sunday on a house in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to an Associated Press reporter who counted the bodies.
CBS News’ Margaret Brennan and Camilla Schick contributed to this report.
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How to watch the Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears NFL game today: Livestream options, more
The Minnesota Vikings will take on the Chicago Bears today. The Vikings are currently 8-2, an impressive run so far this season, and will be looking to add a fourth win to their current streak after last Sunday’s 23-13 win against the Tennessee Titans. The Bears, on the other hand, are entering this game on the heels of a four-game losing streak after a tough 20-19 loss against the Green Bay Packers last Sunday.
Here’s how and when you can watch the Vikings vs. Bears game today, whether or not you have cable.
How and when to watch the Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears
The Vikings vs. Bears game will be played on Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. PT). The game will air on Fox and stream on Fubo and the platforms featured below.
How and when to watch the Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears game without cable
You can watch this week’s NFL game on Fox via several streaming services. All you need is an internet connection and one of the top options outlined below.
Fubo offers you an easy, user-friendly way to watch NFL games on CBS, Fox, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network, plus NCAA football channels. The Pro tier includes 200+ channels and unlimited DVR, while the Elite with Sports Plus tier adds NFL RedZone and 4K resolution. New subscribers get a seven-day free trial and all plans allow streaming on up to 10 screens simultaneously.
You can watch today’s game with a subscription to Sling’s Orange + Blue tier, which includes ESPN, ABC, NBC, and Fox. The plan offers 46 channels with local NFL games, nationally broadcast games and 50 hours of DVR storage. For complete NFL coverage, add Paramount+ to get CBS games, or upgrade with the Sports Extra add-on for additional sports channels like Golf Channel, NBA TV and NFL RedZone.
Watching NFL games, including Fox broadcasts, is simple with Hulu + Live TV, which includes 90 channels, unlimited DVR storage, and access to NFL preseason games, live regular season games and studio shows. The service includes ESPN+ and Disney+ in the subscription.
Want to watch today’s game live on your smartphone? If so, NFL+ streaming service is the solution you’re looking for. It lets you watch NFL Network and out-of-market games on mobile devices, with an upgrade option to NFL+ Premium that includes NFL RedZone for watching up to eight games simultaneously. Note that NFL+ only works on phones and tablets, not TVs.