Blinken wraps up Middle East trip with Gaza deal still elusive

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought during a whirlwind trip to the Middle East to inject urgency into efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire deal but departed the region on Tuesday with an agreement between Israel and Hamas still elusive.

Blinken and mediators from Egypt and Qatar have pinned their hopes on a US "bridging proposal" aimed at narrowing the gaps between the two sides in the 10-month-old war after negotiations last week paused without a breakthrough.

A senior Biden administration official traveling with Blinken said the US expects the ceasefire talks to continue this week.

Blinken was asked in Qatar about Israeli troop withdrawal terms within the ceasefire framework and about an Axios report that quoted Netanyahu as saying he may have convinced Blinken that Israel should keep troops in the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Gaza.

"The United States does not accept any long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel," Blinken said.

Blinken did not comment directly on the Axios report, a post on X. 

Netanyahu's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Both Hamas and Egypt oppose Israel keeping troops in the Philadelphi Corridor, but Netanyahu has insisted they are needed to stop weapons being smuggled into Gaza. A senior US official disputed the Axios report earlier on Tuesday.

Egyptian security sources said the US has proposed an international presence in the Philadelphi Corridor area, a suggestion the sources said could be acceptable to Cairo if limited to a maximum of six months.

Qatar's foreign minister told Blinken his country is committed to its role as a mediator in the ceasefire talks, along with Egypt and the US.

In a phone call, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani stressed to Blinken the importance of consolidating regional and international efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and a hostage-prisoner swap deal, Qatar's foreign ministry said.

Both men underscored that the bridging proposal presented by negotiators addressed the remaining gaps in a manner that allows for swift implementation of the deal, US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel in a statement.

Officials from the US, Hamas, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar have not spelled out what is in the proposal or how it differs from previous versions.

Reuters