US secretary of state, Antony Blinken held a news conference on Thursday, where he said he expected the ceasefire agreement to go into effect on Sunday.
“On the ceasefire, I am confident,” he replied. “I fully expect that implementation will begin … on Sunday.”
He noted that the process of negotiations has been “challenging” and that “you may get a loose end.”
"We’re tying up that loose end as we speak. I’ve been on the phone in one way or another all morning with [White House Middle East adviser'] Brett McGurk, with our Qatari friends, and I’m very confident that we will [see this] moving forward, and that we’ll see the start of the implementation of the agreement on Sunday. "
“As President Biden said yesterday, after more than 400 days of struggle, a day of success has arrived,” he said, describing it as a “moment of tremendous relief for Israelis and Palestinians alike”.
Blinken said it would take “tremendous effort, political courage, compromise” to ensure that the deal endures.
