US announces $135M in humanitarian assistance to Palestinians

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday announced $135 million in new humanitarian assistance for Palestinians and said American negotiators will meet with Israeli and Qatari counterparts to revive talks on a cease-fire despite uncertainty over Hamas’s participation. 

The humanitarian aid package for Palestinians will go toward providing water sanitation and maternal health for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as the wider region, Blinken said.

Blinken made his comments alongside Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Qatar has served as one of the main go-betweens in negotiations with Hamas, and the Qatari government hosts senior political Hamas officials in its capital. 

“We do anticipate that the negotiators will be getting together in the coming days and, again, what we really have to determine is whether Hamas is prepared to engage,” Blinken said. 

“And I believe that we’ll be able to do that, starting in the coming days.”

Hamas has yet to announce a point person for negotiations since the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli military forces operating in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 16. The U.S. has described Sinwar as the main obstacle to achieving a cease-fire deal that would also release the remaining 101 hostages kidnapped from southern Israel during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

“The reason I believe there’s opportunity now is because the biggest obstacle to concluding that agreement was Sinwar,” Blinken said. “And the fact that he is no longer with us, perhaps creates an opening for actually moving forward and concluding an agreement.”

A Hamas political official told The Hill on Wednesday that there is no progress on negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal. 

Qatar’s prime minister said that U.S., Israeli and Qatari negotiators will meet in Doha to discuss “the means for a breakthrough in these negotiations.”