US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his ninth visit to the Middle East since the start of the war in Gaza without securing a ceasefire agreement.
He warned on Tuesday that time is of the essence, although both Hamas and Israel signaled that challenges remain.
After meetings in Egypt and Qatar, the other two mediating countries, Mr. Blinken said that since Israel had accepted a proposal to overcome the last hurdles to a deal with the militant group, the focus was now on making all possible efforts to secured approval from Hamas for both sides to agree on key details on its implementation.
“Our message is simple. It is clear and it is urgent. We need to finalize a ceasefire agreement and the release of the hostages, and it needs to be done now. The element of time is of the essence,” he told reporters before leaving Qatar.
Reaching a deal has become more urgent after the recent assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah militant leaders in Iran and Lebanon attributed to Israel, after which Iran and Hezbollah have warned of retaliation, raising fears of a wider regional war.
Public details of the new proposal put forward by the US, Egypt and Qatar have been scarce. Mr. Blinken said he is “very clear about the phases of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and where it will take place.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas called the latest proposal a reversal of what it had agreed to, accusing the US of accepting new conditions from Israel. The United States has not reacted to this position.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with right-wing groups of families of fallen soldiers and hostages in Gaza. These groups, which oppose a ceasefire deal, said Mr Netanyahu told them Israel would not withdraw from two strategic corridors in Gaza, control of which has been one of the stumbling blocks in the talks. Mr. Netanyahu's office did not comment on their claims.
A senior US official dismissed as “completely untrue” claims that Prime Minister Netanyahu had told Mr Blinken that Israel would never leave the Philadelphia and Netzarim corridors. Such statements “are not constructive to finalizing a cease-fire agreement,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss Secretary Blinken's private diplomatic talks.
Mr Netanyahu's meeting with the families of the slain soldiers and hostages came after the Israeli military said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages taken during the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.
Their discovery added to the pain of many Israelis who have long pressed Mr. Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire that would return the hostages to Israel.
The Israeli military said it found six bodies in an overnight operation in southern Gaza, saying they had been killed while troops were operating in Khan Younis. Hamas says some captives have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, although returned hostages have spoken of harsh conditions, including lack of food or medicine.
The troop withdrawal is a blow to Hamas, whose leaders hope to exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and a long-term ceasefire.
The military said it had identified the bodies of the hostages as Chaim Perry, 80; Yoram Metzger, 80; Avraham Munder, 79; Alexander Dancyg, 76; Nadav Popplewell, 51; and Yagev Buchshtav, 35.
Kibbutz Nir Oz, where Munder was among about 80 residents captured on October 7, said he died after “months of physical and mental torture”. Israeli authorities previously confirmed that the other five were dead.
Hamas is still believed to be holding around 110 hostages it kidnapped in the October 7 attack on Israel. Israeli authorities estimate that about a third of them are dead. In the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which the United States has declared a terrorist organization, 1,200 people were killed.
More than 100 other hostages were released during last year's ceasefire in exchange for several Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Israel's offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has caused widespread destruction and forced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents from their homes.
