TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that Israel had accepted a proposal to bridge Disagreements prevent ceasefire and the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, and he called on Hamas to do the same, without saying whether the concerns raised by the militant group had been taken into account.

The high-stakes negotiations have gained urgency in recent days as diplomats hope a deal will deter Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah from seeking revenge for the targeted killings of two senior militants for which Israel has been blamed. The escalating tensions have raised fears an even more destructive regional war.

Blinken spoke after holding a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day and will travel to Egypt and Qatar for further negotiations. The three mediators have spent months trying to finalize the war in GazaThe talks repeatedly came to a standstill.

“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel supports the bridge proposal,” Blinken told reporters, without saying what the proposal entails. “The next important step is for Hamas to say ‘yes.'”

He added, however, that even if Hamas accepted the proposal, negotiators would work in the coming days “on a clear agreement to implement the deal.” He said there were still “complex issues” that required “tough decisions by the leaders,” but did not give details.

Hamas has said it is losing confidence in the United States as a mediator and accused American negotiators of Taking Israel’s side because it makes new demands that the militant group rejects. Blinken did not say whether the proposal addresses Israel’s demand for control over two strategic corridors inside the Gaza Strip – which Hamas says is a futile exercise – or other issues that have long burdened the negotiations.

Netanyahu said he had a “good and important meeting” with Blinken and appreciated the “understanding that the United States has shown of our vital security interests, as well as our joint efforts to release our hostages.” He added that in the first phase of a ceasefire agreement, efforts would be made to release the largest possible number of hostages.

Blinken’s ninth mission to the Middle East since the conflict began came days after mediators, including the United States, expressed new optimism that an agreement was close. But Hamas has expressed its deep dissatisfaction with the latest proposal, and Israel has said there are points on which it is not prepared to compromise.

Blinken had previously said on Monday that it was a “decisive moment” and “perhaps the last” opportunity to free the hostages and reach a ceasefire.

“It is also time to make sure that no one takes steps that could derail this process,” he said, in a veiled reference to Iran. “And that is why we are working to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way dissuade us from following through on this agreement or that the conflict escalates to other places and with greater intensity.”

The mediators will meet again this week to negotiate a ceasefire. Blinken will travel to Egypt and Qatar on Tuesday, where Hamas has a political office.

The war began on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led militants entered Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Of these, about 110 is said to still be in the Gaza Stripbut Israeli authorities believe that about a third of the hostages are dead. In November, more than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire.

Dozens of Israelis demonstrated outside the Tel Aviv hotel where Blinken was staying, holding up photos of the hostages and demanding an immediate ceasefire.

“We know that an agreement will only be reached with the tremendous help of the American government,” said Yehuda Cohen, whose 20-year-old son Nimrod is being held hostage in Gaza. “We are here to say it out loud: Blinken, Antony Blinken, please push Netanyahu to reach an agreement at any cost, because I want my son to be free.”

The Israeli counterattack in the Gaza Strip has more than 40,000 Palestinians killed, according to local health authorities and devastated large parts of the territory. The war has plunged the area with 2.3 million inhabitants into a humanitarian catastrophe. Aid organizations now fear an outbreak of polio.

Blinken said the United States shared those concerns and was working with Israel on a plan to ensure vaccines would be made available “in the coming weeks.” He added: “This is urgent, this is vital.”

Late last week, the three countries mediating the proposed ceasefire – Egypt, Qatar and the United States – reported progress on an agreement under which Israel would halt most military operations in Gaza and release a number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of hostages.

The proposal calls for a three-stage process in which Hamas will release all hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attack. In return, Israel will withdraw its troops from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas accuses Israel of making new demands, such as maintaining a military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent arms smuggling, as well as along a line cutting through the area to search Palestinians returning to their homes in the north to prevent militants from entering. Israel said these were not new demands but clarifications of an earlier proposal.

Late Sunday, Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahu had continued to put obstacles in the way of an agreement by demanding new conditions, accusing him of seeking to prolong the war and calling the mediators’ latest offer a capitulation to Israel.

“The new proposal meets Netanyahu’s conditions,” Hamas said.

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Samy Magdy contributed to this report from Cairo.

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