WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will step up efforts to secure a truce in Gaza during meetings in the Middle East on April 29, in what could be a final chance to persuade Israel to call off an attack on Rafah.

The White House said on April 28 that Israel has agreed to hear out its concerns.

Israel has “assured us that they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and our concerns with them”, Mr John Kirby, spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, told ABC News. “So we’ll see where that goes.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged US President Joe Biden to intervene, telling a special edition of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh that the US “is the only country capable” of stopping an Israeli invasion of Rafah. 

Mr Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reviewed the talks on a hostage release and a Gaza ceasefire during a call on April 28, according to a White House statement. Mr Biden also “reiterated his clear position” on Rafah.

“If there’s a deal, we will suspend the operation” in Rafah, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 12 news on April 27, even as the Israeli military continued to make preparations for an offensive.

A Hamas official said its delegation plans to respond to the latest Israeli truce plan on April 29, AFP reported, offering another glimmer of hope as the Gaza conflict grinds towards the seven-month mark.  

Egypt is stepping up efforts at mediation to secure an agreement between Israel and Hamas leading to a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages, but the two sides remain far apart. 

Mr Blinken is travelling to Saudi Arabia to meet with regional counterparts and then on to Israel, according to US and Israeli media. It is the top US diplomat’s seventh Middle Eastern trip since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7.

An Israeli assault on Rafah, a safe haven for roughly half the Gaza Strip’s population who have fled almost seven months of fighting, would prolong the conflict and threaten Mr Biden’s hopes of getting Arab states to help with post-war rebuilding.

It would also stymie a US push to secure a historic accord to establish relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The US has urged Israel against a large-scale offensive in Rafah, which Israeli officials say is needed to crush the final stronghold of 5,000 to 8,000 fighters and key leaders from the Palestinian militant group.

The small city on the coastal strip’s border with Egypt had a pre-war population of about 280,000 and is now crammed with more than a million refugees. There are fears of major civilian casualties if Israeli troops storm it. Israel has promised to move the civilians out, an uncertain process that could take weeks.

Israel has been waging a military campaign in Gaza to wipe out Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, the European Union and others, since it swept across the border and attacked Israeli communities and military bases on Oct 7. 

Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and abducted 250 others in that assault, of whom more than 130 remain in Gaza, some dead.

The Israeli bombardment and ground offensive has destroyed much of Gaza, killing more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory, who do not distinguish between civilian and military casualties. 

Pressure is mounting on Mr Netanyahu to make more effort to reach a truce with Hamas. Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities on April 27, some demanding the government step down to make way for early elections, after the group released videos of several hostages alive. 

Negotiations with Hamas remain deadlocked on the group’s insistence for an Israeli commitment to eventually pull out all its troops and end the war.

Israel has also refused demands to allow displaced Gazans to return to their homes in the north without any restrictions.

In a sign of progress, Israel may be willing to compromise on the number of hostages freed in return for allowing Palestinian prisoners out of jail in an initial phase of any deal, Israeli media reported.

Hamas had said it cannot free 40 women, elderly or sick captives as demanded in return for a six-week ceasefire, because it does not have enough hostages in that category.

Egypt has suggested a three-week truce in exchange for freeing 20 hostages, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing Egyptian officials.

Under a previous proposal, a second phase would free men and soldiers under 50, followed by a third phase for the release of the bodies of hostages that should lead to a permanent end to the war, according to US officials.

Axios cited two senior Israeli officials who were not identified as saying that Israel is ready to give “one last chance” for the negotiations before moving forward with a ground invasion of Rafah. 

Mr Netanyahu’s room for manoeuvre is limited because he heads the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.

His firebrand coalition allies, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, oppose a hostage deal right now, which could bring his administration down.

They both warned in posts on X Sunday not to risk his government’s existence. 

Qatar, which has also been mediating, warned that neither side is showing sufficient flexibility.

“We have expressed frustration regarding the level of commitment of both parties,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told Israel’s Kan state channel in an interview aired on April 27. 

The US State Department said last week it was of “dire importance” for a hostage deal to be done “immediately” and blamed Hamas for holding it up.

Mr Netanyahu, meanwhile, has frustrated a US bid to work with Arab allies – including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt – to secure Gaza’s future after hostilities end, by refusing their demand to endorse the goal of an independent Palestinian state. 

Israel has also resisted the idea of giving the Palestinian Authority that rules in the West Bank responsibility for Gaza, raising the prospect of open-ended Israeli occupation. BLOOMBERG