JERUSALEM/CAIRO - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 1 called on Hamas to accept a “very strong” ceasefire-for-hostages offer as he vowed to put a priority on families seeking to reunite with loved ones.

He met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, a day after the latter vowed to go ahead with a long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, whatever the response by Hamas to the latest truce proposals.

In rare scenes for Mr Blinken, who has faced furore at home and abroad over President Joe Biden’s support for Israel in its campaign against Hamas, the US diplomat was greeted outside his Tel Aviv hotel by Israelis waving US flags and chanting: “Thank you, Biden! Thank you, Blinken!”

Mr Blinken, who also met hostage families privately, told them that freeing the hostages seized by militants on Oct 7 was “at the heart of everything we’re trying to do”.

“There is a very strong proposal on the table right now. Hamas needs to say yes, and needs to get this done,” Mr Blinken told the protesters, many of whom chanted for Mr Netanyahu to halt the war.

“We will not rest until everyone – men, women, soldier, civilian, young, old – is back home,” he said.

In Jerusalem on May 1, Mr Blinken spoke with Mr Netanyahu for 2½ hours, and reiterated the US opposition to a Rafah incursion.

He is pressing to increase aid into the Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned of impending famine due to severe shortages of food.

Mr Blinken will make stops including in Ashdod, a port near Gaza that was recently reopened by Israel for aid.

Mr Blinken again stressed that Hamas was standing in the way of a ceasefire. He had repeatedly urged Hamas to accept an “extraordinarily generous” truce deal proposed by Egyptian mediators.

A senior official for Hamas said the group was still studying the deal but accused Mr Blinken of failing to respect both sides, and described Israel as the real obstacle.

“Blinken’s comments contradict reality. It is not strange for Blinken, who is known as the foreign minister of Israel, not America, to make such a statement,” Mr Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

“Even the Israeli negotiating team admitted Netanyahu was the one who was hindering reaching an agreement,” he added.

Another Hamas official, Dr Suhail al-Hindi, told AFP on May 1 that the group would “deliver its response clearly within a very short period”.

He said it was premature to say whether the Hamas envoys, who have returned from talks in Cairo to their base in Qatar, felt any progress was made.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations said Qatari mediators expected a response from Hamas in one or two days.

For Mr Netanyahu, any move is likely to be affected by divisions in his coalition Cabinet between ministers pressing to bring home at least some of the 133 Israeli hostages left in Gaza and hardliners insisting on the long-promised assault on remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah.

‘Last chance’

Israeli officials have said the operation could be deferred if Hamas accepts the deal on offer that includes no definitive ceasefire but the return of 33 vulnerable hostages – women, children and those in frail health – in exchange for a much larger number of Palestinian prisoners and a limited pause in fighting.

“As far as Israel is concerned, this is the last chance to hold off a Rafah sweep. The Israel Defence Forces has already started mobilising troops for that operation,” said a second Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

The Israeli military said two divisions that left Gaza last week were refitting and repairing equipment and holding training and operational assessment exercises in preparation for continued operations in the enclave.

However, there were some questions about whether the repeated declarations of an impending operation were intended mainly as a negotiating tactic to put pressure on Hamas.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Netanyahu’s repeated vows to launch an Israeli offensive into Rafah were “definitely meant to apply pressure at this point”.

“It is uncertain if he (Netanyahu) is committed in the longer term” to storming Rafah, the official said.

Mr Netanyahu’s position has been complicated by talk that the International Criminal Court (ICC) may be preparing arrest warrants for him and other senior Israeli leaders on charges related to the conduct of the war.

On April 30, he said any ICC arrest warrants would be a scandal on a “historic scale” but would not affect Israel’s determination to achieve its war aims.

The ICC has so far said nothing to confirm the speculation, which prompted Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to warn Israeli embassies abroad to bolster their security.

But it underlined fears in Israel of growing isolation over the fighting in Gaza, which has caused mounting international alarm at the scale of destruction, the risk of famine and the prospect of a slide into a wider regional conflict. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced by the war.

Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 34,535 people, including 47 in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said in its daily update on April 30.

Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza began after Hamas-led gunmen burst through the border on Oct 7 and rampaged through nearby communities, killing some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and taking 253 into captivity, according to Israeli tallies. AFP, REUTERS