Fresh blow for Israel-Hamas peace as Blinken flies home after failing to secure ceasefire and US official accuses Netanyahu of 'maximist statements' over IDF presence in Gaza

Ongoing talks aimed at achieving a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war appear to be hanging by a thread after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the region without securing any peace deal.

The diplomat last week embarked on his ninth trip to the region since October 7 but left despondent last night after urging Hamas to urgently accept a US-backed proposal, while also entering into a public spat with Israel over its future presence in the Gaza Strip.

Washington's negotiators, working with mediators from Qatar and Egypt, had presented a proposal that Hamas and Israel had earlier deemed suitable, with representatives of the Palestinian group expected to return to talks this week in Cairo.

But a day after Blinken said US ally Israel was on board, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Israel maintain a military presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, the border between Gaza and Egypt that Israeli forces seized from Hamas, whom Israel says relies on secret tunnels to bring in weapons.

Blinken said Israel had already agreed on the 'schedule and location' of troop withdrawals from Gaza, with Netanyahu seen as having reneged on the deal. 

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike on a hotel, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, August 20, 2024

A man looks at the debris after an Israeli strike on a school, housing displaced Palestinians, in the Rimal neighbourhood of central Gaza City on August 20, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) in Jerusalem on August 19, 2024

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters on the tarmac in Doha on August 20, 2024

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves ahead of his departure from Doha on August 20, 2024

Families of hostages who were kidnaped by Hamas on Oct 7 deadly attack and supporters hold signs and US flags during a demonstration outside a press event by US secretary of state Antony Blinken on August 19, 2024 in Tel Aviv

Tents are crammed together as displaced Palestinians camp on the beach, west of Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024

Since the conflict began, it was made 'very clear that the United States does not accept any long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel', Blinken said when asked about Netanyahu's remarks.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, called Netanyahu's 'maximalist statements' unhelpful for reaching a truce.

'Time is of the essence,' Blinken said after stops in key Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt as well as Israel on his ninth tour of the region aiming to halt the more than 10-month war.

'With every passing day, more bad things can happen to more good people who don't deserve it,' he said before flying out of Doha today.

'This needs to get done, and it needs to get done in the days ahead, and we will do everything possible to get it across the finish line,' he concluded, calling for 'maximum flexibility' from both Israel and Hamas.

Blinken has sought to entice Netanyahu to compromise by offering Israel the prospect of greater normalisation with the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia, guardian of Islam's two holiest sites.

But Egypt, the first Arab nation to make peace with Israel, has been infuriated by Israeli's takeover of the Philadelphi Corridor and is unlikely to condone a long-term military presence there. 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, meeting Blinken in El Alamein earlier this week, told him 'the time has come to end the ongoing war,' a statement said.

Blinken then travelled to Doha to meet with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani before heading stateside, but a US official said the Qatari ruler was feeling unwell and they would speak by phone.

This handout picture released by the Israeli army on August 21, 2024 reportedly shows the Deputy Chief of the General Staff Major-General Amir Baram (C) during the previous day taking part in operations with the 98th Division in the Gaza Strip

A Palestinian man inspects the damage as water reservoirs belonging to the Coastal Municipalities Water Authority are out of service due to Israeli attacks in Khan Yunis, Gaza on August 14, 2024

A Palestinian man inspects the damage as water reservoirs belonging to the Coastal Municipalities Water Authority are out of service due to Israeli attacks in Khan Yunis, Gaza on August 14, 2024

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gestures in Tel Aviv as he departs for Egypt on August 20, 2024

Hamas on October 7 carried out the deadliest-ever attack on Israel, which has responded with a relentless offensive.

The Palestinian Islamist group said it was 'keen to reach a ceasefire' but protested 'new conditions' from Israel in the latest US proposal.

Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes across Gaza have proceeded around the clock.

The Israeli military said it struck about 30 targets throughout Gaza overnight and that troops 'eliminated dozens' of militants.

Further escalating tensions, an Israeli strike in Lebanon's southern city of Sidon killed a Fatah official, a senior member of the Palestinian group and a security source said.

The killing of Khalil Makdah marked the first such attack reported on Fatah, a rival to Hamas, since the Gaza war broke out, and it could further complicate ceasefire talks.

Lebanon's health ministry said earlier Israeli strikes in the country's east killed one person and wounded 20, hours after four were killed in the south.

Cross-border skirmishes have taken place almost daily between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, but fears of a greater crisis soared when Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed on a visit to Tehran on July 31.

Iran has vowed retaliation, blaming Israel for the assassination, but has held off so far, with the United States sending additional forces and warning a wider war could destroy prospects for a Gaza ceasefire.

Elsewhere in the region, a merchant vessel was struck by three projectiles off Yemen after exchanging fire with two boats, British maritime security agency UKMTO said.

There was no immediate claim for the attack, but it comes as Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement keeps up a campaign against international shipping that it says is in support of Gaza.

Palestinian civilians and civil defense teams conduct search and rescue operation after Israeli airstrike hit Mustafa Hafez school, where displaced Palestinians take shelter in the Er-Rimal neighborhood, in Gaza Strip on August 20, 2024

Palestinian students, gathered on the ruins of a house, use their mobile phones to study online due to the destruction and closure of schools and universities, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 20, 2024

Palestinian civilians and civil defense teams conduct search and rescue operation after Israeli airstrike hit Mustafa Hafez school, where displaced Palestinians take shelter in the Er-Rimal neighborhood, in Gaza Strip on August 20, 2024

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for delays in agreeing a deal to end fighting, free Israeli hostages and allow vital humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Netanyahu has faced public protests in Israel urging him to accept a truce, which would bring back hostages whose plight has plagued Israelis.

The Israeli military said Tuesday it had retrieved the bodies of six hostages from tunnels in southern Gaza, some of whom were killed in Israeli military operations.

The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 105 are still being held hostage inside the Gaza Strip, including 34 the military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed 40,223 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.