Blinken seeks progress on Gaza cease-fire-for-hostages deal in meetings with Egyptian mediators

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Cairo for a meeting with Egyptian leaders that U.S. officials say will concentrate mainly on the task of negotiating a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war

CAIRO -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Cairo on Tuesday for a meeting with Egyptian leaders that U.S. officials said would concentrate mainly on the task of negotiating a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in exchange for the release of hostages held by the militants.

Blinken's visit also comes amid growing concerns in Egypt about Israel's stated intentions to expand the combat in Gaza to areas on the Egyptian border that are crammed with displaced Palestinians.

Israel's defense minister has said Israel's offensive will eventually reach the town of Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have sought refuge and live in increasingly miserable conditions.

U.N. humanitarian monitors said Tuesday that Israeli evacuation orders now cover two-thirds of Gaza's territory, driving thousands more people every day toward the border areas.

Egypt has warned that an Israeli deployment along the border would threaten the peace treaty the two countries signed over four decades ago. Egypt fears an expansion of combat to the Rafah area could push terrified Palestinian civilians across the border, a scenario Egypt has said it is determined to prevent.