US SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken met Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in turn today, urging the conclusion of a Gaza ceasefire.

Mr Blinken said it was a “decisive moment, probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.”

He said it was important that “no-one takes any steps that could derail this process … [that] there is no escalation, no provocations, no actions that [expand] the conflict to other places and to greater intensity.”