Blinken returns to Mideast as Israel-Hamas cease-fire proposal hangs in balance after hostage rescue

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to the Middle East this week as a proposed Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal hangs in the balance after the dramatic rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a major military raid and turmoil in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

With no firm response yet from Hamas to the proposal received 10 days ago, Blinken on Monday will start his eighth diplomatic mission to the region since the conflict began in October. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo before traveling to Israel, Jordan and Qatar.

While President Joe Biden, Blinken and other U.S. officials have praised the hostage rescue, the operation resulted in the deaths of a large number of Palestinian civilians that may complicate the cease-fire push by emboldening Israel and hardening Hamas' resolve to carry on fighting in the war it initiated with its Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.

“It’s hard to say how Hamas will process this particular operation and what it will do to its determination about whether it will say yes or not,” Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Sunday. “We have not gotten a formal answer from Hamas at this time.”