Blinken, on ninth Mideast trip since Gaza war began, seeks cease-fire momentum as talks to resume

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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will use his ninth diplomatic mission to the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war to press for the quick conclusion of an elusive cease-fire agreement.

Blinken arrived in Israel on Sunday before what mediators have billed as a last push to reach a deal that will take place in Cairo later this week. He will meet with top Israeli officials on Monday before traveling to Egypt on Tuesday.

Late last week, the three countries mediating the proposed cease-fire reported progress on a deal under which Israel would halt most military operations in Gaza and release a number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas.

A senior official traveling with Blinken said his arrival in the region comes at a “critical time” in the cease-fire talks and the secretary would will press all parties on the importance of concluding it quickly to end civilian suffering in Gaza and prevent the conflict from engulfing the region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Blinken’s travels.

Shortly before Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting there are areas where Israel can be flexible and unspecified areas where it won’t be. “We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,” he said.

In addition to Netanyahu, Blinken will meet Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog on Monday.

On Friday, the U.S. and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar said they were closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with American and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. But Hamas has signaled resistance to what it called new demands by Israel.

The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.

Officials said the U.S. has presented proposals to bridge all the gaps remaining between the Israeli and Hamas positions. Formal responses to the U.S. outline are expected this week and could lead to a cease-fire declaration unless the talks collapse, as has happened with multiple previous efforts to end the 10-month-old war.

U.S. President Joe Biden has seemed optimistic that a deal could be at hand, saying Friday “we are closer than we’ve ever been.”

Asked Sunday about a cease-fire, Biden told reporters: “We’re still underway. We’re not giving up. Still possible.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, campaigning in Pennsylvania, was asked if Netanyahu is ready to strike a cease-fire deal.

“I will not speak for him, but I will tell you that these conversations are ongoing and we are not giving up, and we are going to continue to work very hard on this,” the Democratic presidential nominee said. “We’ve got to get a cease-fire and we got to get those hostages out.”

The renewed push to conclude a cease-fire comes as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has climbed past 40,000 since the war began, according to the Palestinian health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths. Israel went in to Gaza after the Hamas surprise attacks inside Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Since then, fears for a rapid and dangerous escalation to other parts of the region have ebbed and flowed. Those fears are once again elevated as Iran and its proxies threaten retaliation for the killings in Lebanon of senior Hezbollah commanders and in Iran of the head of Hamas’ political wing.

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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Moon, Pennsylvania, and Ayanna Alexander in Washington contributed to this report.