Blinken arrives in Middle East to renew push for Gaza cease-fire

TEL AVIV (Reuters) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday on a Middle East tour aimed at intensifying diplomatic pressure to achieve a cease-fire deal in Gaza this week to end the bloodshed between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

On his 10th trip to the region since the war began in October, Blinken will meet on Monday with senior Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior State Department official said.

After Israel, Blinken will continue onto Egypt.

The talks to strike a deal for a truce and the return of hostages held in Gaza were now at an "inflection point," a senior Biden administration official told reporters en route to Tel Aviv, adding Blinken was going to stress to all parties the importance of getting this deal over the finish line.

"We think this is a critical time," the official said.

The mediating countries -- Qatar, the United States and Egypt -- have so far failed to reach a deal in months of on-off negotiations, and bloodshed continued unabated in Gaza on Sunday.

A strike killed at least 21 people including six children in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian health authorities said.

The children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, health officials said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The military said it destroyed rocket launchers used to hit Israel from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks, and killed 20 Palestinian militants.

The talks towards a cease-fire are set to continue this week in Cairo, following a two-day meeting in Doha last week. Blinken will try to reach a breakthrough after the U.S. put forward