U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged on Monday Middle Eastern leaders to press Hamas to say accept a ceasefire proposal to halt fighting in Gaza as he began a trip in the region.

Blinken said Hamas was the only outlier in not accepting the proposal for a three-phase deal involving the release of hostages and talks toward an end to the fighting, to which he said Israel had agreed.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri later told Reuters that Blinken's comments were "biased to Israel" and that Blinken's stance is a real obstacle to reaching an agreement.