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A day after the United Nations Security Council endorsed<\/a> a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal for Gaza, the world is waiting for Hamas\u2019s leader to respond, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Putting the onus directly on Hamas\u2019s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, Mr. Blinken, speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, asked whether the group would act in the best interests of the Palestinian people by accepting the deal. At least, he said, it would pause the fighting and allow more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.<\/p>\n Alternately, he said, Hamas could be \u201clooking after one guy,\u201d Mr. Sinwar, who is thought to be hiding underground in Gaza, \u201cwhile the people that he purports to represent continue to suffer in the crossfire of his own making.\u201d<\/p>\n Though President Biden has described the U.S.-backed cease-fire plan as one originally proposed by Israel last month, Israeli officials have not publicly endorsed it, and they have not said whether they would abide by the deal if Hamas accepts it.<\/p>\n After meeting on Monday with senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, \u201cI think there\u2019s a strong consensus, again, behind moving forward the proposal,\u201d Mr. Blinken said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it really is down to one person at this point,\u201d he added, referring to Mr. Sinwar.<\/p>\n Mr. Blinken said he received an explicit assurance from Mr. Netanyahu that he continued to support the proposal, despite doubts the Israeli leader sowed last week when he called the idea of a negotiated permanent cease-fire \u2014 which Hamas has called essential \u2014 a \u201cnonstarter.\u201d The U.N. resolution <\/p>\n Asked how that difference might be reconciled, Mr. Blinken emphasized the value of achieving an immediate cease-fire in the first phase of the proposed three-phase agreement. \u201cThe commitment in agreeing to the proposal is to seek that enduring cease-fire,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that has to be negotiated.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with the immediate cease-fire, the first phase of the agreement calls for the release of all hostages being held in Gaza in exchange for a larger number of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, the return of displaced Gazans to their homes and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.<\/p>\n The second phase calls for a permanent cease-fire with the agreement of both parties. The third phase would consist of a multiyear reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of deceased hostages.<\/p>\n Mr. Blinken spoke on the patio of a seaside hotel in Tel Aviv as several relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, with whom he had just met briefly, looking on. Several held signs with photos of their loved ones reading, \u201cBring Them Home.\u201d<\/p>\n On the second day of his eighth visit to the Middle East since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Mr. Blinken called Monday\u2019s unanimous Security Council vote a sign that Hamas will be isolated if it does not agree to the proposed deal, which President Biden endorsed in a speech on May 31<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United Nations Security Council, in effect speaking for the entire international community, made it as clear as it possibly could be that this is what the world is looking for,\u201d Mr. Blinken said.<\/p>\n In a statement on Monday, Hamas said it \u201cwelcomes what is included in the Security Council resolution that affirmed the permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the complete withdrawal, the prisoners\u2019 exchange, the reconstruction, the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, the rejection of any demographic change or reduction in the area of the Gaza Strip, and the delivery of needed aid to our people in the strip.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Blinken called that statement \u201ca hopeful sign.\u201d But he added that what matters \u201cis the word of the Hamas leadership in Gaza\u201d \u2014 namely Mr. Sinwar.<\/p>\n Mr. Blinken spoke to reporters before leaving for Amman, Jordan, where he was scheduled to attend a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza. He also met on Tuesday morning with Israel\u2019s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, and with Benny Gantz<\/a>, who pulled his centrist party out of Israel\u2019s emergency wartime government on Sunday in protest of Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s handling of the war.<\/p>\n