STORY: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday (May 1).
The U.S. diplomat pushed for more aid into Gaza, while urging Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to accept a deal that would halt fighting and bring some hostages home from the enclave.
Israel is the final stop on Blinken's seventh Middle East tour since conflict broke out on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
It comes a month after U.S. President Joe Biden issued a stark warning that Washington's policy could shift, if Israel fails to take steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.
Blinken reiterated on Wednesday that the U.S. position is that Hamas was "standing in the way of a ceasefire", according to the State Department.
He has urged the group to accept what he called "an extraordinarily generous" truce deal proposed by Egyptian mediators.
The deal would see 33 hostages released in exchange for a larger number of Palestinian prisoners and a halt to the fighting in Gaza, with the possibility of a more comprehensive deal later.
A senior official for Hamas said the group was still studying the proposed deal but accused Blinken of failing to respect both sides and described Israel as the real obstacle.
Blinken's trip to Israel comes amid growing speculation that Israel will soon launch a long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
More than one million Palestinians displaced from their homes further north are sheltering there.
