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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet Benny Gantz in Israel on Tuesday, two days after the opposition politician quit the wartime cabinet in a rift over Israel’s approach to the war in Gaza.
Mr Blinken defended his anticipated meeting with the Israeli opposition leader, saying Mr Gantz was someone for whom he has deep respect.
“The decisions that the Israelis make about their government, who’s in, who’s out – those are decisions for Israelis to make, not for us,” Mr Blinken said.
“But I’ll continue to meet with Mr Gantz and others who lead major political parties in Israel and who are going to be critical to the path forward.”
Mr Gantz resigned from the wartime cabinet on Sunday after growing increasingly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war strategy in recent months.
“Netanyahu is preventing [Israel] from progressing towards a true victory,” he said.
Mr Blinken is working to push a ceasefire deal that President Joe Biden put forward late last month.
The deal envisions a three-phase plan that would start with a pause in fighting and would go on to see the withdrawal of Israeli forces from and a permanent cessation of hostilities to be negotiated in a later phase.
On Monday, the UN Security Council endorsed the proposal but hopes for a deal are fragile.
Mr Biden insisted the ceasefire proposal was Israeli and that the government has agreed to it, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly expressed concern and two far-right members of his coalition government have threatened to resign if Israel follows through with it.
Hamas has yet to formally respond to the proposal but signs point to the militant group not agreeing to it outright.
On Monday, Mr Blinken met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Cairo before flying to Israel to meet Mr Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
In all three meetings, Mr Blinken spoke of the importance of pushing the deal home and stressed that it was up to Hamas to accept it.
“My message to governments throughout the region, to people throughout the region is: If you want a ceasefire, press Hamas to say yes,” he told reporters in Cairo.
“If you want to alleviate the terrible suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, press Hamas to say yes. If you want to get all the hostages home, press Hamas to say yes.
“If you want to put Israelis and Palestinians alike on the path to more durable peace and security, press Hamas to say yes.”
Putting the responsibility squarely on Hamas has rankled the militant group.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Mr Blinken's comments show “bias toward Israel”.
“Blinken’s speech during his visit to Egypt … offers an American cover to the holocaust conducted by the occupation in Gaza,” Mr Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal for months, but the last time guns fell silent was in November, when 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
“There have been almost no high points, maybe in mid-November and the other day's freeing of hostages, but it was a nightmare for Palestinians,” said Aaron Miller, a former veteran Middle East analyst at the State Department.
The current mediation efforts are “not working”, Mr Miller told The National.
Mr Miller said that while the US and others have been pushing hard, neither Hamas nor Israel appear overly eager to bring the conflict to an end.
“The administration is in a hurry but not the two principal parties, and that's why … it's not working,” Mr Miller said.
Mr Blinken is due to travel to Jordan later on Tuesday for a conference “on the urgent humanitarian response to Gaza”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement announcing the trip.
The conference will co-hosted by Egypt and the UN.
Mr Blinken, who is making his eighth diplomatic visit to the region since October 7, will conclude his travels on Wednesday in Qatar.
