U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli leaders on Wednesday after Hamas put forward a detailed plan for a new cease-fire and hostage release deal, but both sides remain dug in on thus far elusive goals as the war enters its fifth month.

Hamas laid out a three-phase plan to unfold over 4 1/2 months, responding to a proposal drawn up by the United States, Israel, Qatar and Egypt. All hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including senior militants, and an end to the war.

Qatar said Tuesday that Hamas has delivered a "positive" response to a proposal to free hostages in return for pausing the Gaza war, which U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will take to Israel.

"We have received a reply from Hamas with regards to the general framework of the agreement with regards to hostages. The reply includes some comments, but in general it is positive," Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said after meeting Blinken in Doha.

Argentina's President Javier Milei arrived in Israel on Tuesday and immediately announced a plan to relocate his country's embassy to Jerusalem.

"My plan is to move the embassy to West Jerusalem," the libertarian head of state told Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on the tarmac of the airport near Tel Aviv.

Bulgarian Transport Minister Georgy Gvozdeykov said Tuesday that the crew of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship captured by Yemen's Houthi rebels in November are "safe and sound" and will shortly return to Bulgaria.

"The information we have ... on the sailors of the Galaxy Leader captured in the Red Sea is that they are well, safe and sound and are staying in a hotel," the minister told private Bulgarian television station bTV.

By Benjamin Case, Arizona State University

As the war in the Gaza Strip enters its fourth month, on the surface it might seem like possibilities for long-term, peaceful solutions are impossible. Even before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel by Hamas-led forces from Gaza, many analysts were already declaring the idea of a two-state solution dead.

Russia has accused the United States of aggression against Iraq and Syria aimed at preserving its global dominance and salvaging the Biden administration's "image" ahead of U.S. elections. The U.S. retorted that its military response to unjustified attacks by Iranian-backed proxies against American forces is not only legal but will continue.

The exchange came at a contentious U.N. Security Council meeting called by Russia, Syria's closest ally, where both countries also said they did not want an escalation and spillover of the Israel-Hamas war. Many council members expressed fears of a growing Mideast conflict and urged de-escalation and stepped-up peace efforts.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Egypt on Tuesday as part of his latest Middle East crisis tour, seeking a new ceasefire and "an enduring end" to the Israel-Hamas war.

Heavy strikes and fighting in Gaza killed at least 99 people overnight, mostly women and children, said the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory that has been under almost four months of bombardment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that an Israeli victory against Hamas in Gaza will deal a "fatal blow" to the Palestinian militants as well as other Iran-backed groups in the region.

"A complete victory will deal a fatal blow to the axis of evil that is Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis and of course Hamas," Netanyahu said in an address to army commanders, according to a statement issued Monday by his office.

A ship traveling through the southern Red Sea was attacked by a suspected Yemen Houthi rebel drone early on Tuesday, authorities said, the latest assault in their campaign targeting vessels over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The attack happened west of the Yemeni port of Hodeida, and the projectile caused "slight damage" to the vessel's windows on the bridge, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said. A small vessel had been nearby the ship before the attack, it added.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Monday that a Gaza food convoy was struck by the Israeli navy, which controls the waters off the territory.

"This morning a food convoy waiting to move into northern Gaza was hit by Israeli naval gunfire," UNRWA's Gaza chief Thomas White wrote on X, formerly Twitter.