Israel recovers bodies of six hostages as Blinken pushes for Gaza ceasefire

Egyptian President warns US Secretary of State of a regional conflict 'difficult to imagine' if efforts to end the war do not succeed

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty host US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in El Alamein, Egypt, on August 20. Reuters

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Egypt's coastal city of New Alamein on Tuesday, in the latest effort towards a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Israel said the bodies of six hostages killed in Gaza had been found.

After the bodies were recovered, Israel bombed a school housing displaced people in the west of Gaza city, killing at least nine Palestinians, news agency Wafa reported.

Mr Blinken, who met Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Monday, said the US had put forward a “bridging proposal” that Israel had accepted. Hamas has yet to formally accept or reject the latest terms.

A presidential statement realeasd in Cairo after Mr El Sisi's meeting with Mr Blinken quoted the Egyptian leader as telling his guest that the time has come to "resort to the voice of reason and wisdom" and end the war in Gaza, warning about the danger of the conflict expanding regionally "in a way that is difficult to imagine".

"Stopping the bloodshed must be the main motive for all parties," Mr El Sisi said.

Mr Blinken was scheduled to fly from Egypt to Qatar for a meeting with Emir Sheikh Tamim in Doha, the scene of ceasefire talks last week, sources close to the negotiations told The National.

On Tuesday, Hamas reiterated support for the three-phase deal the group accepted on July 2 and disputed US President Joe Biden's claim that it had changed its position.

“Israel says they can work it out … Hamas is now backing away," Mr Biden said at the Democratic National Convention on Monday evening.

Hamas said it watched Mr Biden's comments with "astonishment and disapproval", and that they constituted a "green light" for the Israeli government to "commit more crimes against defenceless civilians, in pursuit of the goals of exterminating and displacing our people".

The group accused the Israeli prime minister of obstructing an agreement by adding new conditions and demands to the original US proposal, which called for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces to border areas, the return of people to their homes and entry of humanitarian aid as well as the release of hostages in the first phase.

It said the newer conditions included no Israeli withdrawal from the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the Salah Al Din along the Gaza-Egypt border or the Netzarim Corridor created by Israel between Gaza's north and south.

Amendments to the prisoner exchange deal with Israel have also been sticking points for the group.

“The US is attempting to delay negotiations in order to pressure the mediators into accepting Mr Netanyahu's new conditions as necessary,” a senior Hamas official told The National on Tuesday.

“Washington and Tel Aviv are responsible for delaying and procrastinating in the negotiations and Hamas cannot accept that,” added the official.

“The international community must put pressure on Mr Netanyahu, who took advantage of Hamas’s flexibility to make amendments to the agreement and change the conditions.”

Previously, Hamas had opposed Israel's requirement that the list of hostages to be released should specify whether they are alive or dead. Israel had also set conditions, requiring that Hamas agree to the other terms of the proposal, in exchange for the entry of humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

Mr Blinken is on his ninth trip to the region since October 7 when Hamas launched an attack in Israel that killed about 1,200 people. More than 40,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war started, with at least 92,743 injured and thousands more missing under rubble, Ministry of Health figures indicate.

Egypt, the US and Qatar are parties to the possible ceasefire agreement to end the 10 month-long war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Israeli forces entered Hamas tunnels in Khan Younis in the south to recover the bodies of hostages Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Haim Perry, Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on X.

Hours later, Israeli war planes struck the Mustafa Hafez school in Al Rimal neighbourhood west of Gaza city, killing at least nine people, Wafa reported.

Israel claims that it hit a “command centre” where Hamas militants were embedded.

The attack came 10 days after Israel killed at least 100 people and injured 150 others in a strike on Al Tabaeen school in eastern Gaza city during dawn prayers.