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- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- Daniels throws five TDs as Commanders down Eagles, Lions and Vikings win
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin to talk gas deliveries
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 35
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Mbappe back from 'bottom' as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- France kept on tenterhooks over new government
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- 'Nervous' Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Germany pledges security inquest into Christmas market attack
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
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- Neville says Rashford's career at Man Utd nearing 'inevitable ending'
- Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon
- Germany pledges security inquest after Christmas market attack
- Putin vows 'destruction' on Ukraine after Kazan drone attack
- Understated Usyk seeks recognition among boxing legends
- France awaits appointment of new government
Blinken in Israel as Netanyahu, Hamas trade blame over Gaza talks
Israel's under-pressure prime minister traded blame with Hamas militants on Sunday for delays in reaching a Gaza truce accord as top US diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv to push for a deal.
Making his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war began when Hamas attacked Israel in October, the US secretary of state is to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders.
Diplomats say a Gaza deal could help avert a wider conflagration, and a US official speaking on customary condition of anonymity said this is "a particularly critical time."
Blinken aims "to press any and all parties that it's important to get the remaining pieces of this across the finish line," said the official.
Ahead of the truce talks in Qatar last Thursday and Friday, Hamas had called on mediators -- rather than holding more negotiations -- to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden.
But after the Qatar talks between US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators, the United States submitted a new compromise proposal, leading Hamas on Sunday to accuse Netanyahu of obstruction.
According to Hamas, the proposal "responds to Netanyahu's conditions, especially his rejection of a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and his insistence on continuing to occupy the Netzarim junction, the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi corridor".
The latter two places are seen by Israel as important for preventing the flow of any weapons into the Gaza Strip, while the Netzarim junction sits at a strategic point between northern and southern Gaza.
Netanyahu was "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators, obstructing an agreement, and (bears) full responsibility for the lives" of hostages in Gaza, the Islamist movement said in a statement.
Hamas officials have on several occasions accused Netanyahu of obstructing an agreement.
Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas itself have also called for pressure on Netanyahu in order that an agreement to be reached.
Far-right members crucial to the prime minister's governing coalition oppose any truce.
- Stakes have risen -
On Sunday Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas must be pressured.
"Hamas, up to this moment, remains obstinate. It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. Therefore, the pressure should be directed at Hamas and (Yahya) Sinwar, not at the Israeli government," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, referring to the Hamas chief.
On Tuesday Blinken is to travel on to Cairo, where ceasefire talks will resume in the coming days.
The Biden framework, which he said was proposed by Israel, would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks as Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters the besieged Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, Netanyahu's office in a statement said Israeli negotiators have expressed "cautious optimism" about reaching a Gaza truce deal.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators also reported progress.
Months of on-off truce negotiations have taken place, so far without any agreement.
But the stakes have risen since the late July killings of Iran-backed militant leaders, including Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened with a feared polio outbreak.
Israeli evacuation orders have "reduced the safe zone" in the south of the territory, leaving "no more space" for displaced Palestinians, said Samah Dib, 32.
Some "are sleeping on the street" while clean water is scarce and food at the markets is "very expensive and we have no money left", said Dib, who like almost all Gazans is among the displaced.
As efforts towards a long-sought truce continued, so did the violence in Gaza but also in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Lebanon, where Israeli forces and Hamas's Iran-backed ally Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire throughout the war. They did so again on Sunday.
- The rumble of tanks -
Civil defence rescuers in Hamas-run Gaza reported a total of 11 people killed in Israeli bombardment of Deir el-Balah and in air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp.
The latest killings helped push to 40,099 the death toll from Gaza health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel that started the war resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The Israeli military said troops continued operations in central and southern Gaza and "eliminated" militants in Rafah, on the territory's border with Egypt.
From the Israeli-designated safe zone in southern Gaza's Al-Mawasi, a fearful Lina Saleha, 44, said she could hear "constant artillery shelling" and the rumble of tanks "getting closer."
In the occupied West Bank, an attack in a Jewish settlement killed an Israeli man, a hospital said, three days after a deadly settler raid in a nearby Palestinian village.
In Lebanon, the UN said three peacekeepers were lightly injured in a blast in the country's south.
Iran and its regional allies have vowed retaliation for Haniyeh's death in Tehran -- which Israel has not claimed responsibility for -- and for an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah commander.
US officials have indirectly heard that Iran "want to see a ceasefire, they don't want to see regional escalation," the US official said.
Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 111 are still held in Gaza including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Club watchdog said that since the Gaza war began, Israeli forces have detained "more than 10,000 Palestinians" in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in 1967.
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A.Jones--AMWN