'Hamas "backing away" from a ceasefire deal: Biden

"Israel says they can work it out... Hamas is now backing away." says Biden at DRC

US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Hamas was "backing away" from a deal with Israel to agree on a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

"It's still in play, but you can't predict," he said as he prepared to leave Chicago after a keynote address to the Democratic National Convention. "Israel says they can work it out... Hamas is now backing away."

Previously, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said August 19 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured him of support for a US proposal to bridge gaps on reaching a Gaza ceasefire, and pressed Hamas to agree.

Following three hours of talks with the prime minister in Jerusalem, Blinken said that Netanyahu promised Israel would send a team to talks scheduled to resume this week, mediated by Egypt and Qatar.

"In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal. He supports it. It's now incumbent on Hamas to do the same," Blinken told reporters later in Tel Aviv.

"What I would say to Hamas and to its leadership is, if it genuinely cares about the Palestinian people that it purports to somehow represent, then it will say 'yes' to this agreement, and it will work on clear understandings about how to implement it," Blinken said, a day after Hamas accused Netanyahu of obstructing the mediation efforts.

Hamas had called on mediators to implement a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden. The movement said the bridging proposal "responds to Netanyahu's conditions" and leaves him "fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators."