JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hiked up pressure on Hamas on Wednesday to accept the latest proposal for a cease-fire with Israel, saying the "time is now" for an agreement that would free hostages and bring a pause in the nearly seven months of war in Gaza.
But a key sticking point appeared to remain — whether the deal would completely end Israel's offensive as Hamas demands.
Blinken met with Israeli leaders throughout the day on the last stop of his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted in October, trying to push through what has been an elusive deal between Israel and Hamas. The U.S. and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar hope to avert an Israeli offensive into the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.
Throughout months of talks, Hamas said the freeing of all the hostages must bring a permanent halt to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
The proposed deal now at the center of talks raises that possibility, according to leaked details that were confirmed by an Egyptian official and a Hamas official. Hamas seeks to strengthen the language to ensure a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire Gaza Strip, the Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hamas said it is likely to give its response to the proposal on Thursday.
In public, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu staunchly rejected stopping the war before Hamas is destroyed. In his talks with Blinken on Wednesday, Netanyahu repeated his vow to launch the offensive on Rafah, which he says is Hamas' last stronghold in Gaza.
Earlier in the day, Blinken said in talks with Israel's ceremonial President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to get a deal.
"No delays, no excuses. The time is now," he said.
Blinken said the deal would also allow much needed food, medicine and water to get into Gaza, where the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis, pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine and driven around 80% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes.
Blinken said there was "meaningful progress" in efforts to increase the flow of aid. On Wednesday, Israel reopened its Erez crossing for deliveries into northern Gaza for the first time since it was damaged in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
Planned offensive in Rafah
Hanging over the cease-fire negotiations is the possibility of an Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population fled, cramming into vast tent camps and other shelters. On Tuesday, Netanyahu vowed to go ahead with the assault with or without a cease-fire deal.
"The operation in Rafah doesn't depend on anything. The prime minister made this clear to Secretary Blinken," Netanyahu's office said after the two met Wednesday.
Hard-line members of Netanyahu's coalition, on whom he depends to keep his government in power, have railed against any deal that prevents a Rafah attack as a victory for Hamas.
The United States has staunchly supported Israel's campaign of bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza since Hamas' unprecedented attack on Oct. 7 into southern Israel. But the U.S. is increasingly critical of the staggering toll borne by Palestinian civilians and has been outspoken against a move on Rafah.
American officials say they oppose a major offensive but that if Israel conducts one, it must first evacuate civilians.
Attacks continue
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued. Late Tuesday, a strike hit a house in Rafah, killing at least two children, according to hospital authorities. An Associated Press journalist saw the children's bodies at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital as their relatives mourned.
The Israel-Hamas war was sparked after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. The fighting killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and militants took about 250 hostages.
Hamas is believed to still hold about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, most of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry there.
Cease-fire details
Throughout his regional visit, with previous stops in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Blinken urged Hamas to accept the cease-fire proposal, calling it "extraordinarily generous" on Israel's part.
The cease-fire proposal lays out three stages of six to seven weeks each, according to details first reported in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.
The first phase would bring a pause during which Hamas would release women and elderly civilians in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In a series of timed steps, Israeli troops would withdraw from a coastal road in Gaza, then from central Gaza and displaced people would return north.
In the meantime, talks would start on restoring "a permanent calm," the Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal negotiations.
The next stage would bring implementation of the calm, including Hamas' release of all remaining hostages — soldiers and civilians — and a withdrawal of Israeli forces out of Gaza. The Egyptian official said Hamas sees the language about the withdrawal as too vague and wants to specify a complete withdrawal to avoid different interpretations.
The last stage would see the release of bodies of dead hostages and the start of a five-year reconstruction plan. The plan says that Hamas would agree not to rebuild its military arsenal.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, walks Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Kerem Shalom border crossing in Kerem Shalom, Israel.
Israeli soldiers gather Wednesday near a gate at an inspection area for trucks carrying humanitarian aid supplies on the Israeli side of the Erez crossing into Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks Wednesday to families and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza during a protest calling for their return in Tel Aviv, Israel.