Blinken returns to Israel in Gaza truce push as Hamas rejects US 'diktats'

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in Israel on Sunday as mediators seek to cement a Gaza ceasefire deal, while a senior Hamas official dismissed "American diktats" in negotiations.

Making his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war broke out with the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack, Blinken is expected to meet Israeli leaders before truce talks resume in Cairo in the coming days.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have said negotiations to clinch a ceasefire in the more than 10-month-old war were making progress, and US President Joe Biden said "we are closer than we have ever been".

But Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri undercut the cautious optimism, telling AFP that signs of progress after two days of talks in Doha were "an illusion".

"We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats," he said.

Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded.

But the stakes have risen since the late July killings in quick succession of Iran-backed militant leaders, including Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip has deepened with a feared polio outbreak.

After mediators announced they had put forward a "bridging proposal" to close remaining gaps between the warring sides, Hamas said it rejected "new conditions" from Israel and called for a plan outlined by Biden in late May to be implemented.

Before Blinken departed for Tel Aviv on Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called for "heavy pressure" on Hamas to reach a breakthrough.

The Palestinian group as well as some analysts and Israeli protesters have accused Netanyahu of hamstringing a deal to safeguard his hard-right ruling coalition.

"We have a prime minister that is not so much willing to release the hostages, to finish the war, because he has he own interests," Yossi, a 53-year-old protester, said as thousands rallied in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to bring home the captives still held in Gaza.

As efforts towards a long-sought truce continued, so has the violence in Gaza but also in the