(MENAFN- Live Mint) "US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday, said that he was hopeful Hamas would accept an \"extraordinarily generous\" offer to halt Israel's Gaza offensive in return for the release of hostages.\"Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,\" Blinken said in Riyadh at the World Economic Forum.\"In this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,\" AFP quoted him as saying.\"They have to decide -- and they have to decide quickly,\" Blinken said. \"I'm hopeful that they will make the right decision.\"“The most effective way to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of children, women and men, and to create space for a more just and durable solution is to get a cease-fire and the hostages out,\" reported PTI quoting Blinken.\"We can have a fundamental change in the dynamic\" in more than half a year of bloodshed, Blinken said.A delegation from Hamas was due on Monday in Egypt, which with Qatar has been seeking to broker a deal that would halt the Israeli offensive and see hostages freed, Blinken said that the United States and Saudi Arabia have done intensive work together over the last month on Israeli-Saudi normalization a panel discussion in Riyadh, Blinken said he had not yet seen a plan from Israel on a Rafah offensive that would protect civilians.
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