U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned Monday to the Middle East as a proposed Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal hangs in the balance after the rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a military raid and following the latest turmoil in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
With no firm public response yet from Hamas or Israel to the proposal they received 10 days ago, Blinken started his eighth visit to the region since the conflict began in October by meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, a key mediator with the militant Hamas group, and then talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
