Blinken visits Gaza mediators to reach ceasefire deal as Hamas, Israel raise challenges

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Egypt and Qatar on Tuesday, where he and other mediators led another diplomatic mission aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, even as Hamas and Israel signaled challenges remained.

Hamas, in a new statement, called the latest proposal presented to it a “reversal” of what it had previously agreed to, and accused the U.S. of acquiescing to what it called Israel’s “new conditions.” There was no immediate response from the U.S.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, told the families of fallen soldiers and hostages in Gaza that a key goal was to “preserve our strategic security assets in the face of enormous domestic and foreign pressure.” Right-wing family groups opposed to the ceasefire agreement said Netanyahu told them Israel would not abandon two strategic corridors in Gaza whose control by Israel had been an obstacle to the talks. Netanyahu’s office did not comment on the accounts.

The meeting came after the Israeli military said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war, a development that has sparked fresh grief among many Israelis who have long pressed Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire that would allow the remaining hostages to be brought home.

Blinken’s meetings in Egypt, which borders Gaza, and upcoming ones in Qatar, where some Hamas leaders are in exile, come a day after he met with Netanyahu and said the prime minister had accepted a U.S. offer to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas. Blinken has called on the militants to do the same. But there still appear to be wide gaps between the two sides.

The pressure for a ceasefire agreement has become particularly urgent following the recent assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Iran and Lebanon, blamed on Israel, and the announcements of retaliation that have raised fears of a wider war in the region.

Israel’s military said its forces recovered six bodies in an overnight operation in the southern Gaza Strip, without saying when or how they died. Hamas says some of the captives were killed and wounded in Israeli airstrikes, although returning hostages have spoken of difficult conditions, including a lack of food and medicine.

The recovery of the remains is also a blow to Hamas, which is counting on an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli troop withdrawal and a permanent ceasefire.

The military said it had identified the remains of Chaim Perry, 80, Yoram Metzger, 80, Avraham Munder, 79, Alexander Dancyg, 76, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Yagev Buchshtav, 35. Family members of Metzger, Munder, Popplewell, and Buchshtav were kidnapped but released during a November ceasefire.

Munder’s death was confirmed by Kibbutz Nir Oz, the farming community where he was staying, among about 80 captured residents. It said he died after “months of physical and psychological torture.” Israeli authorities had previously determined that the other five were dead.

Netanyahu said “our hearts ache for this terrible loss.” There were no immediate reports of Israeli or Palestinian casualties in the recovery operation.

Hamas is believed to still be holding about 110 hostages taken on October 7. Israeli authorities estimate that about a third of them are dead.

Hamas-led militants broke through Israel’s defenses on Oct. 7 and unleashed a rampage in the south, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. More than 100 hostages were released in exchange for Palestinians trapped in Israel during last year’s ceasefire.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count. The air and ground offensive has caused widespread destruction and forced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to flee their homes, often multiple times. Aid organizations fear an outbreak of diseases such as polio.

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday killed at least 12 people at a school-turned-bunker in Gaza City. The Palestinian Civil Defense, first responders operating under Hamas rule, said about 700 people had taken shelter at the Mustafa Hafez School. The Israeli military said the attack targeted Hamas fighters who had set up a command center at the school.

“We don’t know where to go… or where to give shelter to our children,” said Um Khalil Abu Agwa, a displaced woman staying at the site.

An Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah hit people walking on a street, killing seven people, including a woman and two children, according to an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies. More than 20 others were injured.

Another airstrike in central Gaza has killed five children and their mother, according to reports from the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. An AP journalist counted the bodies.

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Lee reported from el-Alamein, Egypt. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza; Samy Magdy in Cairo; and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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