A Hamas delegation is due Monday in Egypt, where it will respond to Israel's latest proposal for a long-sought truce in Gaza and hostage release after almost seven months of war.
Egypt, Qatar, and the United States have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for months, but a flurry of diplomacy in recent days appeared to suggest a new push toward halting the fighting.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his seventh visit to the region since October 7, arrived Monday in Saudi Arabia and will also travel to Israel and neighbouring Jordan later this week, a State Department official said.
A senior Hamas official said Sunday that the Palestinian group had no "major issues" with the most recent truce plan.
"The atmosphere is positive unless there are new Israeli obstacles," the official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss the negotiations.
Israel has pledged to go after Hamas battalions in Rafah despite mounting global concern for Palestinian civilians sheltering in the southern Gaza Strip city, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the government may "suspend" the invasion if an agreement is reached. The war has brought besieged Gaza to the brink of famine, UN and humanitarian officials say, reduced much of the territory to rubble, and raised fears of broader conflict.
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