Antony Blinken

Talks to reach a Gaza truce were expected to resume Sunday after officials from the Hamas Islamist organisation and Israel publicly disagreed over demands to end their seven-month war.

While mediation took place in Egypt, the head of the U.N.'s World Food Programme said "there is famine" in northern Gaza, and appealed for a ceasefire.

Hamas said its delegation was heading to Cairo on Saturday to resume Gaza truce talks, as the United Nations warned that Israel's threatened assault on the city of Rafah could produce a "bloodbath".

Foreign mediators have been waiting for the Palestinian militant group to respond to a proposal to halt fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under grave pressure over possible arrest warrants for him and other senior Israeli officials by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over Israel's offensives in the Gaza war.

Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept a truce in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to send troops into its far southern city of Rafah.

Washington has heightened pressure on all sides to reach a ceasefire — a message pushed by Blinken, who was on his seventh regional tour since the Gaza war broke out in October.

Hamas was studying Tuesday Israel's offer of a 40-day truce in the war in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of scores of hostages held since the Oct. 7 attacks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Fidan and Blinken met on the margins of the meeting of the Contact Group on Gaza, the ministry posted on social media platform X.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday renewed U.S. opposition to an Israeli offensive on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah ahead of his trip to Israel.

"We have not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that civilians can be effectively protected," Blinken told a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has joined several counterparts in Riyadh to participate in a crucial meeting aimed at advancing efforts for a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

The gathering on April 28 brought together officials from a group formed jointly by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday told top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken that the world's biggest economies should be "partners, not rivals" as the two sides pressed for headway on a range of concerns.

China's foreign minister on Friday urged visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to address rising disagreements or risk a "downward spiral" between the two powers after months of efforts to ease tensions.