Blinken ends latest Mideast visit without a cease-fire, warning 'time is of the essence'

JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his ninth visit to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began without securing any major breakthrough for a cease-fire deal, warning on Tuesday that “time is of the essence” even as Hamas and Israel signaled that challenges remain.

After meetings in fellow mediating countries Egypt and Qatar, Blinken said that because Israel has accepted a proposal to bridge gaps with the militant group, the focus turns to doing everything possible to “get Hamas on board” and ensure both sides agree to key details on implementation.

“Our message is simple. It’s clear and it’s urgent," he told reporters before leaving Qatar. "We need to get a cease-fire and hostage agreement over the finish line, and we need to do it now. Time is of the essence.”

There has been added urgency after the recent targeted killings of militant leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah in Iran and Lebanon, both attributed to Israel, and vows of retaliation that have sparked fears of a wider regional war.

Few details have been released about the so-called bridging proposal put forth by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar. Blinken said it is “very clear on the schedule and the locations of (Israeli military) withdrawals from Gaza.”

Hamas earlier Tuesday called the latest proposal a reversal of what it had agreed to, accusing the U.S. of acquiescing to new conditions from Israel. There was no immediate U.S. response to that.

Blinken’s comments on ending his latest Israel-Hamas peace mission were notably bare of the optimism that Biden administration officials expressed going into his trip, and earlier.

The upbeat tone through much of the spring and summer — with U.S. officials at times describing a cease-fire and hostage deal as nearer than ever — reflected necessary messaging, at least in part, said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Program.

“If they don’t project optimism then it won’t create ... even the potential for sufficient momentum to keep things going," Panikoff said.

Americans have little alternative to continuing to push Israel and Hamas to agree to a negotiated end to fighting, but it’s fundamentally about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attacks, Panikoff said. And they are “the two people that have been, frankly, most skeptical from the beginning” about making peace.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, met with right-wing groups of families of fallen soldiers and hostages in Gaza. The groups, which oppose a cease-fire deal, said he told them Israel will not abandon two strategic corridors in Gaza whose control has been an obstacle in the talks. Netanyahu's office did not comment on their account.

A senior U.S. official rejected as “totally untrue” that Netanyahu had told Blinken that Israel would never leave the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors. Such statements are “not constructive to getting a cease-fire deal across the finish line,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss Blinken’s private diplomatic talks.

Blinken's meetings in Egypt, which borders Gaza, and in Qatar, which hosts some Hamas leaders in exile, came a day after he met Netanyahu. Wide gaps appeared to remain between Israel and Hamas, though angry statements often serve as pressure tactics during negotiations.

Both men have seen their political standing improve at home, as Israelis turn their attention from the war in Gaza to a threatened wider conflict with Iran and Hezbollah, and as Hamas further consolidates Sinwar's leadership of the group. That's lessened the pressure on both to close a deal, Panikoff said.

And while the U.S. could try restricting arms sales to Israel to push it to end the war with Hamas, Panikoff argued that risks making Netanyahu dig in his heels further, instead.

Netanyahu’s meeting with the families came as Israel’s military said it recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that started the war, bringing fresh grief for many Israelis who have long pressed Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire that would bring remaining hostages home.

New protests were held Tuesday. “The longer they’re there, the more body bags we get,” said one protester, Adi Israeli, in Tel Aviv.

Israel's military said it recovered the six bodies in an overnight operation in southern Gaza, saying they were killed when troops were operating in Khan Younis. Hamas says some captives have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, though returning hostages have talked about difficult conditions, including lack of food or medications.

The recovery of the remains also is a blow to Hamas, which hopes to exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli withdrawal and a lasting cease-fire.

The military said it had identified the remains of Chaim Perry, 80; Yoram Metzger, 80; Avraham Munder, 79; Alexander Dancyg, 76; Nadav Popplewell, 51; and Yagev Buchshtav, 35.

Kibbutz Nir Oz, the farming community where Munder was among around 80 residents seized, said he died after "months of physical and mental torture.” Israeli authorities previously determined the other five were dead.

Hamas is still believed to be holding around 110 hostages captured during the Oct. 7 attacks, when militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israeli authorities estimate around a third are dead. Over 100 other hostages were released during last year's cease-fire in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The war has caused widespread destruction and forced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents to flee their homes, often multiple times. Aid groups fear the outbreak of polio and other diseases.

An Israeli airstrike Tuesday killed at least 12 people at a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City. The Palestinian Civil Defense, first responders operating under the Hamas-run government, said around 700 people had been sheltering at the Mustafa Hafez school. Israel’s military said the strike targeted Hamas militants who had set up a command center there.

“We don’t know where to go … or where to shelter our children,” said Um Khalil Abu Agwa, a displaced woman.

An Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah hit people walking down the street and seven were killed, including a woman and two children, according to an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies. Another airstrike in central Gaza killed five children and their mother, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where an AP journalist counted the bodies.

Palestinians displaced by recent Israeli evacuation orders crowded into already teeming areas. One child in Deir al-Balah slept on cardboard as insects flew around his face.

“Are they going to dig the ground and dump us there, or put us on a boat and throw us in the sea? I don’t know,” said one man, Abu Shady Afana.

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Lee reported from el-Alamein, Egypt, and Doha, Qatar. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war