U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed on Tuesday for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, but officials familiar with the latest U.S.-backed proposal said it left major disagreements between Hamas and Israel unresolved.
After meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday, Blinken said that Israel had accepted the U.S. proposal — the details of which have not been made public — and that the onus was now on Hamas to agree to it as well.
But Israeli and Hamas officials have downplayed the idea that a deal could be imminent, saying that mediators’ efforts — and the latest U.S. proposal aimed at bridging gaps between the two sides — have failed to resolve some of the most substantive disputes in the talks.
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