U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited with mediators Egypt and Qatar on Tuesday in search of a cease-fire deal to halt the war in Gaza.
"Time is of the essence," he said, as he wrapped up his ninth visit to the Mideast.
But both Hamas and Israel signaled they did not like aspects of a U.S.-supported proposal, and an agreement appeared as elusive as ever.
In a new statement, Hamas said the latest proposal was a "reversal" of what it had previously agreed to and accused the United States of acquiescing to what it called "new conditions" from Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told relatives of hostages in Gaza that a key goal is to "preserve our strategic security assets in the face of great pressures from home and abroad."
He noted the "capture" of a narrow buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border that Israel calls the Philadelphi Corridor. Neither Hamas nor Egypt wants an Israeli presence there.
Later, a senior U.S. official said Netanyahu's "maximalist statements like this are not constructive to getting a cease-fire deal across the finish line."
Netanyahu, in talks with Blinken in Tel Aviv on Monday, agreed to the basic parameters of a cease-fire deal, with Hamas yet to assent.
"If both sides agreed to the bridging proposal, which Israel [on Monday] did, we hope Hamas will as well, said the U.S. official. "There will be additional conversations on technical specifics."
Blinken met first with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at his summer palace in El-Alamein. In a statement later, Sissi said the Israeli-Hamas conflict could expand into a broader, regional war if fighting is not halted in the narrow territory along the Mediterranean Sea.
"The time has come to end the ongoing war, and to resort to wisdom, and to uphold the language of peace and diplomacy," the Egyptian leader said.
Sissi said all parties must be wary of the "danger of the conflict expanding regionally" and that the risk of broader warfare would be "difficult to imagine."
The Egyptian leader said a cease-fire in Gaza "must be the beginning of broader international recognition of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution, as this is the basic guarantor of stability in the region."
Blinken later flew to Doha for talks with Qatari officials.
During months of stalemated talks on a cease-fire in the 10½-month war, the United States has maintained its support for a two-state solution, calling for creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. But Netanyahu has continued to oppose such an outcome as untenable for Israel's security.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the U.S., have pushed negotiations for a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas but have been unable to complete a pact.
It was Blinken's ninth trip to the Mideast since the Israeli-Hamas war erupted on October 7 with the militants' terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to Hamas health officials, although the Israeli military says the death toll also includes thousands of Hamas fighters.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military announced the bodies of six hostages had been recovered from Gaza.
The U.S. put forward a bridging proposal during last week's cease-fire talks in Doha. Negotiations are set to resume in Cairo this week. Blinken said even if Hamas accepts the deal, there are still "complex issues" requiring "hard decisions by the leaders." He didn't offer specifics.
"We're never giving up," said Blinken, when asked if time to take the deal could ultimately run out. He held a one-on-one meeting with Netanyahu for 2½ hours.
Some analysts were skeptical.
"I think there's a lot of wishful thinking going on, and I think the wishful thinking is because the stakes are now so high, because there is a potential for this conflict to escalate beyond its borders," Mirette Mabrouk, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told VOA on Monday.
An Israeli government spokesperson told reporters on Monday that Netanyahu "stands firmly by the principle" that the Israel Defense Forces will maintain a physical presence in the Philadelphi Corridor to prevent what they describe as the resupply of Hamas' weapons.
Earlier, Hamas accused Netanyahu of undermining the mediators' efforts. Sami Abu Zuhri, a member of Hamas' political bureau, dismissed claims that signs of progress after two days of talks in Doha were "an illusion."
There is an increased urgency to reach a deal amid fears of broader regional escalation if Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, retaliate against Israel for the assassination of a top Hezbollah operative in Beirut and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel has claimed responsibility for the Beirut attack but not the Tehran one, although it is widely presumed to have carried it out.
Bodies of hostages returned
The bodies of six hostages, including five who were previously announced dead, were retrieved from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The military said it carried out the operation with the Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet.
Among the bodies recovered was that of 79-year-old Avraham Munder, whose death was announced Tuesday by his kibbutz community.
Kibbutz Nir Oz called Munder's death "murder," saying he endured "physical and mental torture for months."
The other hostages were Yagev Buchshtab, 35, who was abducted with his wife, who was released after 50 days in captivity; Alexander Dancyg, 75; Yoram Metzger, 80, who was abducted with his wife, who was released after 53 days; Nadav Popplewell, 51, who was abducted with his mother, who was released after 49 days; and Chaim Perry, 80.
In a statement early Tuesday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Israel "has a moral and ethical obligation to return all the murdered for dignified burial and to bring all living hostages home for rehabilitation."
"The immediate return of the remaining 109 hostages can only be achieved through a negotiated deal," the statement said. "The Israeli government, with the assistance of mediators, must do everything in its power to finalize the deal currently on the table."
Netanyahu offered condolences to the families and pledged that Israel "will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages — the living and the deceased."
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
