JERUSALEM, Aug 19, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on
Monday urged Israel and Hamas not to derail negotiations that he said may be
a "last opportunity" to secure a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.

Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East since Hamas's October 7 attack
triggered the war, said he was back in Israel "to get this agreement to the
line and ultimately over the line".

"This is a decisive moment -- probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity
to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better
path to enduring peace and security," Blinken said as he met Israeli
President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.

The US secretary of state later met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and is due to travel on Tuesday to Egypt where
ceasefire talks are expected to resume this week.

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for delays in reaching a truce accord
that diplomats say could help avert a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

"We're working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no
provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away
from getting this deal over the line, or, for that matter, escalating the
conflict to other places, and to greater intensity," Blinken said.

"It is time for it to get done. It's also time to make sure that no one takes
any steps that could derail this process."

Months of on-off negotiations with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have
failed to produce an agreement.

Ahead of talks in Qatar last week, Hamas called on mediators to implement a
framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden, rather than hold
more negotiations.

Biden said on Sunday that a ceasefire was "still possible" and that the
United States was "not giving up".

- Tel Aviv bombing -

Late Sunday, hours after Blinken had landed in the city, there was a bombing
in Tel Aviv that was later claimed by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic
Jihad.

One person -- the bomber according to Israeli media -- was killed and another
wounded.

The groups threatened to carry out more such attacks in Israel "as long as
the occupation's massacres, the displacement of civilians and the policy of
assassinations continue".

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the bombing could have been
more serious but the assailant detonated the explosives before managing to
reach a more heavily populated area.

It came as Israel and Hamas traded blame for delays in reaching a truce deal.

After the Qatar meeting last week, the United States submitted what mediators
called a "bridging proposal", which Hamas on Sunday said "responds to
Netanyahu's conditions" and includes terms that the Palestinian group would
not accept.

Hamas insisted on "a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive withdrawal from
the Gaza Strip", saying Netanyahu wanted to keep Israeli forces at several
strategic locations.

Netanyahu was "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators",
the Palestinian movement said in a statement.

Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas
itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order for an agreement to be
reached.

On Sunday Netanyahu said that Hamas "remains obstinate" and must be
pressured, a day after his office said Israeli negotiators had expressed
"cautious optimism" about reaching a deal.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators also reported progress.

Far-right members crucial to the prime minister's governing coalition oppose
any truce.

The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,198
people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official
figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed at
least 40,139 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which does
not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 111 are still held in Gaza,
including 39 the military says are dead.

- Gaza devastation -

The plan announced by Biden at the end of May would freeze fighting for an
initial six weeks while Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian
prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters Gaza.

Violence raged on in Gaza and along the Israel-Lebanon border where Israeli
forces and Hamas's Iran-backed ally Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire
throughout the war.

On Monday, an Israeli soldier and two Hezbollah fighters were killed in
cross-border clashes, the Israeli military and the Lebanese militant group
said.

In southern Gaza, a medical source told AFP three people were killed in
Abassan village and witnesses reported Israeli air strikes near the Islamic
University in Khan Yunis.

The Israeli military said troops were operating in southern and central Gaza,
and that the air force "struck over 45 terrorist targets" across the
territory over the past day.

It later said that it had "expanded" operations in Khan Yunis and the
outskirts of Deir el-Balah. A medical source told AFP a baby girl was killed
and several women wounded in air strikes west of Khan Yunis.

The fighting has devastated Gaza. A video posted to social media by a UN
official showed a convoy passing scenes of utter destruction with almost
every building reduced to rubble and the few still standing badly damaged.