Blinken will visit Egypt and Qatar as the US presses Hamas to accept a modified deal that would allow Israel to keep troops in Gaza.
Hamas has said a ceasefire deal must result in a permanent end to Israel’s war in Gaza, accusing the US of “simply buying time for Israel to continue its genocide” by proposing an amended deal.
As the Palestinian group revealed details of Israel's new conditions, it urged the world to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign the deal proposed by US President Joe Biden on May 31 and endorsed by the United Nations Security Council on June 11.
“The Israelis have backed away from the issues included in Biden’s proposal. Netanyahu’s statements about accepting an updated proposal indicate that the US administration has failed to convince him to accept the previous deal,” Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera on Monday.
On Tuesday, Biden said Hamas was “walking away” from the deal it reached with Israel.
“It’s still in play, but you can’t predict it,” he said as he left the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “Israel says it can solve it… Hamas is now backing off.”
Hamdan's comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Tel Aviv on Monday that he had “a very constructive meeting” with Netanyahu, who “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridge proposal.”
“This is a decisive moment, probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to achieve the [Israeli] “To bring the hostages home, to achieve a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path toward lasting peace and security,” Blinken said.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had recovered the bodies of six captives from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
The United States presented the latest proposal last week after new talks in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Hamas said the new proposal meets Netanyahu's conditions, including his refusal to agree to a ceasefire, a complete troop withdrawal from Gaza and his insistence on maintaining control of the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the north and south of the enclave, the Rafah border crossing and the Philadelphia Corridor bordering Egypt.
Blinken left for the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El Alamein on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at his summer palace.
He will then head to a meeting in Doha with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Egypt and Qatar are working with the United States to negotiate a truce in the 10-month-old conflict in Gaza.
Biden's framework would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks while Israeli captives are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters Gaza.
Netanyahu said Monday that negotiators aimed to “release the maximum number of hostages alive” in the first phase of any ceasefire.
According to the enclave's health ministry, at least 40,173 people have been killed and 92,857 wounded in Israel's war on Gaza. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 and more than 200 were taken prisoner.
