The Latest | Blinken urges Hamas to accept a cease-fire as fighting flares up in the West Bank

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on Hamas to accept a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, saying that UN Security Council vote made it “as clear as possible” that the world supports the plan.

“Everyone voted except one vote, and that is Hamas,” Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv after meeting with Israeli officials. He said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reaffirmed his commitment to the proposal when they met Monday night.

Hamas welcomed Biden’s initial announcement of the plan, as well as the UN resolution supporting it, but has not yet submitted its official response. Blinken said Hamas’s response to the U.N. vote was a “hopeful sign,” but that mediators are still waiting to hear from the group’s leaders in Gaza.

“That’s what counts. And that’s what we don’t have yet. And that’s why I say we’re waiting to see it. “Everyone has said yes, except Hamas,” he stated.

Hamas said earlier Tuesday that one of its commanders in the occupied West Bank was killed in a clash with Israeli forces, while Israel said four soldiers were killed in an explosion in Rafah.

Also on Tuesday, the U.N. human rights office said that both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups may have committed war crimes in connection with a deadly raid by Israeli forces that freed four hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians over the weekend.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 36,730 people, according to the Gaza Office. Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Palestinians confront widespread hunger because the war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies. UN agencies say more than a million people in Gaza could experience the highest level of hunger in mid-July.

Israel launched the war after Hamas attack on October 7in which militants swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250.

At the moment:

— Blinken welcomes UN vote in favor of the ceasefire plan in Gaza and once again asks Hamas to accept it

— UN says Israeli forces, Palestinian armed groups may have committed war crimes in deadly raid

— As Israeli raid He freed 4 hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians in Gaza.

– What are you doing Israel’s rescue of 4 captives, and the murder of 274 Palestinians, do they mean for the truce talks?

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here’s the latest:

TEL AVIV, Israel – A well-known Israeli hostage who was rescued in a deadly attack in Gaza over the weekend has been released from a Tel Aviv hospital.

Ichilov Hospital said Noa Argamani, 26, was discharged Tuesday after undergoing physical and psychological examinations.

Argamani will remain near the hospital, where his mother, Liora, is being treated for terminal brain cancer.

Argamani emerged as An icon of the hostage crisis. after his capture during the October 7 Hamas attack was captured on video. She screamed “Don’t kill me!” when they forced her onto a motorcycle.

His mother was glad for his release and said she wanted to see her only son again before she died. Yaakov Argamani, Noa’s father, told Israeli media that Liora is in a “very difficult situation” and barely registered seeing Noa for the first time.

Argamani was rescued on Saturday along with three other hostages. None suffered serious physical injuries and the other three were released Monday.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said 274 Palestinians were killed and around 700 wounded during the attack. The Israeli military said it carried out intensive strikes when gunfire broke out as rescuers withdrew.

Hamas and other militants are still holding about 120 hostages, about a third of whom are believed to have died.

The U.N. human rights office cites possible war crimes committed by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in connection with a deadly raid by Israeli forces that freed four hostages over the weekend and killed hundreds of Palestinians.

Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence expressed concern about possible violations of the rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution by Israeli forces in Saturday’s raid on the Nuseirat urban refugee camp.

Palestinian health officials say at least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, were died in operation.

Laurence said Palestinian armed groups holding hostages in densely populated areas are putting the lives of nearby civilians and hostages at “additional risk” due to hostilities.

“All of these actions by both sides may amount to war crimes,” he told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva.

TEL AVIV, Israel – Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the vote in favor of the UN Security Council of a ceasefire plan in Gaza made “as clear as possible” that the world supports the US-backed proposal to end the fighting.

He spoke to reporters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday after meeting with Israeli officials. Blinken said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “reaffirmed his commitment to the proposal” when they met Monday night.

“Everyone voted except one, and that’s Hamas,” Blinken said.

The proposal, announced by President Joe Biden last month, calls for a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the rest of the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The group is still holding about 120 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Biden presented it as an Israeli proposal and urged Hamas to accept it. But Netanyahu has publicly questioned key aspects of it, saying Israel will not end the war without destroying Hamas and returning all hostages.

Hamas has not yet formally responded to the proposal. The militant group welcomed the UN resolution and supports the general outline of the agreement, but has demanded guarantees that it will be implemented.

Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said Tuesday that “efforts continue to study and clarify some issues to ensure implementation by Israel.” He says Israel is “stalling, postponing and creating obstacles to continued aggression.”

On Monday, the UN Security Council voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposal, with 14 of the 15 members voting in favor and Russia abstaining. The resolution calls on Israel and Hamas to “fully implement its terms, without delay and without conditions.”

TEL AVIV, Israel – The Israeli military says four soldiers were killed in an explosion in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

Israeli media, citing unnamed security officials, reported that the soldiers were killed on Monday when the explosives they were using to clear the building were activated prematurely, causing it to collapse, killing four soldiers and wounding 11.

The Hamas militant group said it had booby-trapped the building and attacked soldiers with mortar shells after the explosion.

The military attacked the building because they believed it contained a Hamas agent who was involved in the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held in Gaza for five years, according to Israeli media.

Israel launched what it says is a limited ground operation in parts of Rafah in early May. Around a million Palestinians, most of them already displaced from other parts of Gaza, have fled the offensive in Rafah. The United Nations estimates that between 200,000 and 300,000 people still remain in the city.

The military says at least 298 soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground operation in Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Hamas says one of its commanders in the occupied West Bank was killed in a clash with Israeli forces.

In a statement issued late Monday, Hamas said Mohammed Jaber Abdo was killed along with three other fighters in a village near Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is based. He said Abdo had spent 20 years in Israeli prisons.

A joint statement from the Israeli army and police earlier on Monday said covert forces had tracked down a suspect wanted in an attack on a nearby Jewish settlement.

He said the man was hiding in a complex with three other suspects and that forces opened fire when they tried to hit them with a car and flee. He said weapons were found in the car.

Violence has increased in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

Since then, more than 530 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most were killed during violent protests or Israeli arrest raids, often triggering shootouts.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.