BLINKEN: ‘IF YOU WANT A CEASEFIRE, PRESS HAMAS TO SAY YES’: Even though the ceasefire and hostage release plan announced by President Joe Biden on May 31 was presented as an Israeli proposal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Tel Aviv on Monday urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to support it.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reiterated his “commitment” to the ceasefire proposal as the world awaits Hamas’s response.

The secretary is in the Middle East, where he has met and will continue to meet with regional leaders, including those from Qatar and Egypt, which are acting as mediators, along with the United States, between Israel and Hamas.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced an additional $404 million in aid to Gaza as he spoke in Jordan on Tuesday, where he urged Hamas to accept the current cease-fire proposal “without delay” during talks with Middle Eastern leaders.

Blinken, who is touring the Middle East to push for a deal and an exchange of hostages in the Gaza Strip after months of violence and high death tolls, received a boost from a U.S.-sponsored U.N. Security Council resolution backing the plan Monday. Hamas welcomed the resolution.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that if a ceasefire plan backed by the US and UN does not progress, Hamas will be to blame.

Mr Blinken reiterated his call for Hamas to accept the plan as outlined by President Biden 11 days ago.

He said the onus was on "one guy" hiding "ten storeys underground in Gaza" to make the casting vote, referring to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Mr Blinken said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had "reaffirmed his commitment" to the proposal when they held talks in Jerusalem on Monday.

While he was vice president, Joe Biden received sensitive communications via his private email accounts created under a fictitious identity, including foreign policy discussions with his national security adviser, schedules of meetings with Cabinet secretaries and a summary of at least one intelligence briefing to President Barack Obama, according to new emails obtained by Just the News.

President Joe Biden’s administration plans to “look at the appropriate steps” to retaliate against the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants for Israel‘s leaders, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“We want to work with you on a bipartisan basis to find an appropriate response,” Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Neil Young songs aren’t typically used as tools of diplomacy. Tuesday night in wartime Ukraine’s capital, not long before curfew, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken deployed a left-handed guitar in the service of supporting Kyiv in its fight against Russia.

Before Blinken became the top American diplomat, he was a serious rock guitarist — and along with a Ukrainian band, he played “Rockin’ in the Free World,” a 1989 song by Young, the Canadian American musician, for a packed basement music club.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin must pay to rebuild what he has destroyed in Ukraine.

Speaking in Kyiv, Mr Blinken said Washington has the power to seize Russian assets in the US and will use them to help rebuild Ukraine.

He also said that Ukraine is getting "closer to Nato".

Earlier, the top US diplomat told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that military aid is "now on its way".

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the latter's visit to Kyiv on May 14.

The president thanked Blinken for the "crucial package" of $61 billion in U.S. aid passed by Congress in April. While this decision unblocked the flow of American assistance after six months of delays, it will likely still take some time before the effects are felt on the battlefield.

"A big appreciation from Ukrainians to Americans for this," Zelensky said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine on Tuesday on an unannounced diplomatic mission to reassure the country amid its war with Russia.

After arriving in Kyiv, Blinken is expected to meet with senior Ukrainian officials and "highlight the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine," the U.S. State Department said. In the Ukrainian capital, he will also underscore the Biden administration’s commitment to Ukraine’s defense and assure Ukraine that it has America’s support against increasingly intense Russian attacks.