Blinken says Israel backs US proposal in 'last' chance for Gaza truce

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) walks after his arrival in Tel Aviv on August 18, 2024. [AFP]

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Monday said Israel has accepted a US "bridging proposal" for a Gaza truce deal, and pressed Hamas to do the same, having earlier said the talks may be the "last opportunity" for a ceasefire.

Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East since Hamas's October 7 attack triggered the war with Israel, said he had "a very constructive meeting" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who "confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal."

"He supports it. It's now incumbent on Hamas to do the same," Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv.

Washington put forward the proposal last week after the most recent round of talks in Qatar.

Ahead of those talks, Hamas called on mediators to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden, rather than hold more negotiations.

The movement on Sunday said the bridging proposal "responds to Netanyahu's conditions" and leaves him "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators."

Blinken said Netanyahu had "committed to sending his senior expert team" to further negotiations, "but we look to Hamas, first and foremost, to get behind the bridging proposal" which, he said, incorporates the May framework.

Earlier on Monday, the US secretary of state had said "This is a decisive moment -- probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security".

Months of on-off negotiations with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have failed to produce an agreement

Blinken is due to travel on Tuesday to Egypt where ceasefire talks are expected to resume this week. He said he will then go on to Qatar.

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for delays in reaching a truce accord that diplomats say could help avert a wider conflagration in the Middle East that could draw in Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"There is, I think, a real sense of urgency here, across the region, on the need to get this over the finish line and to do it as soon as possible", Blinken said.

The Biden administration is under domestic pressure over Gaza. During Blinken's visit to Israel, pro-Palestinian protests took place outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, ahead of November's presidential election.

Tel Aviv bombing

Late on Sunday, soon after Blinken landed in the city,  a rare bombing took place in Tel Aviv. The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another militant group, later claimed the blast and threatened to carry out more such attacks.

One person -- the bomber according to Israeli media -- was killed and another wounded.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the bombing could have been more serious but the assailant detonated the explosives before reaching a more heavily populated area.

It came as Israel and Hamas traded blame for delays in reaching a truce deal.

Hamas insisted on "a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive (Israeli) withdrawal from the Gaza Strip", saying Netanyahu wanted to keep Israeli forces at several strategic locations within the territory.

Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters who protested in Tel Aviv during Blinken's visit, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order for an agreement to be reached.

On Sunday Netanyahu said that Hamas "remains obstinate" and must be pressured.

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

The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 40,139 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 111 are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

The Biden framework would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks while Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters Gaza.

Netanyahu said on Monday that negotiators were aiming to "release a maximum number of living hostages" in the first phase of any ceasefire.

Gaza devastation

Violence raged on in Gaza and along the Israel-Lebanon border where Israeli forces and Hamas's Iran-backed ally Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire throughout the war.

Israel struck Hezbollah weapons depots deep in Lebanon's east, in the Bekaa area, a source close to the group told AFP, in a raid confirmed by the Israeli military.

Most exchanges of fire have been along the Israel-Lebanon border, though Israel has previously struck the Bekaa valley.

An Israeli soldier and two Hezbollah fighters were killed in cross-border clashes, the Israeli military and Hezbollah said earlier on Monday.

In southern Gaza, a medical source told AFP three people were killed in Abassan village and witnesses reported Israeli air strikes near the Islamic University in Khan Yunis.

The Israeli military said troops had "expanded" operations in Khan Yunis and the outskirts of Deir el-Balah, central Gaza. A medical source told AFP a baby girl was killed in air strikes west of Khan Yunis.

The fighting has devastated Gaza.

A video posted to social media by a United Nations official showed a convoy passing a flattened, dusty landscape with almost every building reduced to rubble and the few still standing badly damaged.

What little remains of the health system is under intense pressure and last week the health ministry said Gaza recorded its first polio case in 25 years.

Blinken said Washington was working with Israel and expected they would have a vaccination plan "in the coming weeks". The UN says it has one ready to go that would require two week-long pauses in the fighting.