Blinken in Israel as Netanyahu, Hamas trade blame over Gaza talks

Israel's under-pressure prime minister traded blame with Hamas on Sunday for delays in reaching a Gaza truce accord as top US diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv to push for a deal.

Making his ninth trip to the Middle East since the war on Gaza began in October, the US secretary of state is to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders.

Diplomats say a Gaza deal could help avert a wider conflagration, and a US official speaking on customary condition of anonymity said this is "a particularly critical time".

Blinken aims "to press any and all parties that it's important to get the remaining pieces of this across the finish line", said the official.

Ahead of truce talks in Qatar last Thursday and Friday, Hamas had called on mediators -- rather than holding more negotiations -- to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden.

Biden said Sunday that a ceasefire was "still possible" and that the United States was "not giving up" in brief comments to reporters.

After the Qatar talks between US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators, the United States submitted a new compromise proposal, leading Hamas on Sunday to accuse Netanyahu of obstruction.

According to Hamas, the proposal "responds to Netanyahu's conditions, especially his rejection of a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and his insistence on continuing to occupy the Netzarim junction, the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi corridor".

The latter two places are seen by Israel as important for preventing the flow of any weapons into the Gaza Strip, while the Netzarim junction sits at a strategic point between northern and southern Gaza.

Netanyahu was "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators, obstructing an agreement, and (bears) full responsibility for the lives" of hostages in Gaza, the Hamas said in a statement.

Hamas officials have on several occasions accused Netanyahu of obstructing an agreement.

Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order for an agreement to be reached.

Far-right members crucial to the prime minister's governing coalition oppose any truce.

Stakes have risen

On Sunday Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas must be pressured.

"Hamas, up to this moment, remains obstinate. It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. Therefore, the pressure should be directed at Hamas and (Yahya) Sinwar, not at the Israeli government," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, referring to the Hamas chief.

On Tuesday Blinken is to travel on to Cairo, where ceasefire talks will resume in the coming days.

The Biden framework, which he said was proposed by Israel, would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks as Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters the besieged Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, Netanyahu's office in a statement said Israeli negotiators have expressed "cautious optimism" about reaching a Gaza truce deal.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators also reported progress.

Months of on-off truce negotiations have taken place, so far without any agreement, with Israel continuing to oppose a permanent ceasefire.

But the stakes have risen since the late July killings of Iran-backed militant leaders, including Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened with a feared polio outbreak.

Israeli evacuation orders have "reduced the safe zone" in the south of the territory, leaving "no more space" for displaced Palestinians, said Samah Dib, 32.

Some "are sleeping on the street", while clean water is scarce and food at the markets is "very expensive and we have no money left", said Dib, who like almost all Gazans is among the displaced.

As efforts towards a long-sought truce continued, so did the violence in Gaza, but also in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Lebanon, where Israeli forces and Hamas's Iran-backed ally Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire throughout the war. They did so again on Sunday.