Blinken ends ninth Mideast trip without cease-fire agreement

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is departing the Middle East on Wednesday after trying to shore up support for a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal that now appears to be out of reach.

Blinken traveled to Israel, Egypt and Qatar this week to push a deal over the finish line and pressure Hamas to accept the latest negotiations. Israel agreed Monday to the latest proposal that was offered by Egyptian, Qatari and U.S. mediators after the latest round of talks last week.

But Hamas has put out public statements saying it would not agree with the latest proposal, raising concerns about one of the major sticking points in the talks, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Hamas wants Israel to fully withdraw from the territory, but Israel is pushing to maintain a presence there, including in the Philadelphi Corridor that borders Egypt.

Blinken told reporters Tuesday that mediators were "going to do everything possible to, one, get Hamas on board with the bridging proposal" and then to "agree to necessary details of implementation that would allow everything to go forward."

"This needs to get done, and it needs to get done in the days ahead, and we will do everything possible to get it across the finish line," he said. "Time is of the essence because with every passing day the well-being and lives of the hostages are in jeopardy."

Talks are expected to continue this week in Cairo, but Hamas is not sending a delegation, just as it refused to do so last week in Doha, Qatar. Hamas has pushed for a proposal from July, accusing Israel of adding on extra demands since then.

Several media reports indicate talks are close to collapsing and that both Hamas and Israel have expressed skepticism of an agreement and are far apart from each other on the latest proposal, even if it is the strongest one to date.

The Biden administration in the past few weeks has said a deal is as close as ever, but one has yet to materialize, even as Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. push for a finalized agreement.

Washington also expressed optimism about a deal over the spring. The last agreement was in late November, when more than 100 hostages were released in return for a temporary truce, freed Palestinian prisoners and aid into Gaza.

The current deal, proposed by President Biden in May and backed by the United Nations, involves three phases, the first of which releases the most vulnerable of the 109 hostages held by Hamas in return for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza, an Israeli withdrawal from populated areas of the strip and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners.

A second phase involves negotiations for a full cease-fire and the return of the rest of the hostages. A third would see the return of the remains of hostages and a Gaza reconstruction plan. More than 40,000 people been killed in Gaza over 10 months of war, and much of the coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble. Hamas took some 250 hostages in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that also killed more than 1,100 people.

Other than an impasse on an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas and Israel are also hung up on the number of prisoners and hostages being exchanged.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a meeting Tuesday that he was seeking to get the maximum number of hostages released in the first phase of the deal and to "preserve our strategic security assets in the face of major domestic and foreign pressure."

The negotiations come as the Middle East remains on edge, with Iran poised to strike at Israel in retaliation for the death of a top Hamas leader in Tehran last month.

A cease-fire deal could also abate Iranian-backed actors, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, who have, respectively, been fighting with Israeli and U.S. forces.

Blinken warned earlier this week that it was possibly the last chance to get a cease-fire and hostage release deal, citing concerns about more hostages dying or escalation in the Middle East.

But he expressed confidence Tuesday that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar could get an agreement in place.

"The three of us working together, I believe, can get this to where it needs to go," Blinken said. "But as always, these things sometimes take more time than you want."