“This is a defining moment – probably the best, perhaps the last opportunity to bring the prisoners home, to achieve a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to lasting peace and security,” Blinken said during his meeting with Israeli regime leader Isaac Herzog, according to Arab News.

The top US diplomat said President Joe Biden sent him “to push this deal to the limit and finally get it through.”

“It’s time to get it done. It’s also time to make sure no one takes any steps that could jeopardize that process,” Blinken said.

“We are working to ensure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that could in any way deter us from implementing this agreement or that the conflict escalates to other places and with greater intensity.”

Blinken, who is on his ninth visit to the Middle East since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Monday.

Herzog said the Israelis wanted to secure the return of prisoners still held in Gaza since the October 7 operation that sparked the war “as soon as possible.”

“There is no greater humanitarian goal and no greater humanitarian cause than releasing our hostages,” Herzog told Blinken.

MNA/PR