The US top diplomat called on Hamas on Tuesday to accept a plan for an "immediate ceasefire" with Israel as mediators met for a third day in Cairo in efforts to end almost five months of fighting, reports BSS.
As famine threatens Gazans, US and Jordanian planes again airdropped food aid into the besieged territory of 2.4 million people in a joint operation with Egypt and France.
Bombing and fighting in the war sparked by the October 7 attack killed another 97 people, said the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, where Israel said its jets had struck 50 targets over the past day.
In Cairo, US and Hamas envoys were meeting Egyptian and Qatari mediators for a third day in protracted negotiations to end the fighting and free hostages before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan starts on March 10 or 11.
Egypt's AlQahera News, which is close to the country's intelligence services, said the "negotiations are difficult but they are continuing", citing an unnamed senior official.
The parties in Egypt -- so far excluding Israel -- have discussed a plan for a six-week truce, the exchange of dozens of hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and increased aid into Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on called on Hamas to accept the plan to pause the fighting and allow in more desperately needed humanitarian aid.
"We have an opportunity for an immediate ceasefire that can bring hostages home, that can dramatically increase the amount of humanitarian assistance getting to Palestinians who so desperately need it, and then also set the conditions for an enduring resolution," Blinken said.
"It is on Hamas to make decisions about whether it is prepared to engage in that ceasefire," the US top diplomat added as he met the Qatari prime minister in Washington.
As conditions in Gaza deteriorate and the spectre of famine looms, Israel has also faced increasingly sharp rebukes from Washington.
Vice President Kamala Harris expressed "deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza" during talks on Monday with war cabinet member Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
