United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a visit to Egypt on Monday that Hamas is the "only outlier" in ceasefire negotiations. He said the Palestinian group has shown "extraordinary cynicism" and urged regional leaders to "press" Hamas to accept the terms of the ceasefire deal.
Blinken continued to insist that the "best way" to free the hostages held by Hamas and limit the number of civilian casualties is to agree to the proposed terms. He added that Egyptian negotiators spoke with representatives of Hamas "as recently as a few hours ago" but there has still been no breakthrough.