U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday to seize on the killing of Hamas'sl leader to work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, also calling for more aid to reach the war-battered territory.

Blinken is on his 11th trip to the Middle East since Hamas's attack on Israel more than a year ago triggered the Gaza war, and his first since Israel's conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah escalated late last month.

The U.S. is making an 11th-hour effort to resuscitate some aspects of the halted cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas weeks before the presidential election and as Israel’s invasion of neighboring Lebanon intensifies, according to a senior State Department official.

Since negotiations fell apart over the summer, Americans have shifted to focus on a post-war plan for Israel and Gaza. The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity late Monday to preview Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s strategy, said that stakeholders have reached consensus on some aspects of the so-called day-after plan and that the U.S. is hopeful that this progress will create goodwill to get parties back to the table on a ceasefire.

Iran's neighbors have pledged they will not allow the use of their "soil or airspace" for any attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday, as Israel weighs a retaliation for the Islamic republic's missile strike.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday on his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The U.S. hopes to revive cease-fire efforts after the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, but so far all the warring parties appear to be digging in.

Israel is still at war with Hamas more than a year after the militant group's Oct. 7 attack, and with Hezbollah in Lebanon, where it launched a ground invasion earlier this month. Israel is also expected to strike Iran after its ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1.

Syrian state media said a car exploded on Monday in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus which is home to embassies and security headquarters but it did not specify the cause of the blast.

The official SANA news agency reported "a car explosion in one of the neighborhoods" of Mazzeh, where an AFP correspondent said a hotel was damaged and vehicles torched following the blast near Syria's Information Ministry.

French President Emmanuel Macron called once again for a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

Macron said the elimination of Hamas’ top leader Yahya Sinwar last week in Gaza “must be an opportunity to begin a new phase of negotiation” for a cease-fire, the release of hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Egyptian officials said the head of Israel’s internal security agency has visited Cairo to discuss reviving Gaza cease-fire talks after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Israel and Hamas, as well as Egypt, which has served as a key mediator, appear to still be divided over whether Israel would retain control over parts of Gaza, a dispute that dragged the talks to a halt in August.

The world's final glimpse of Hamas' leader was rough and raw, showing him wounded and cornered as he sat in a bombed-out Palestinian home and faced down the Israeli drone filming him, hurling a stick at it.

For Israel, the scene was one of victory, showing Yahya Sinwar, the architect of Oct. 7, broken and defeated.

The United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel's plans to attack Iran, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate.

The documents are attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, and note that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran's blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. They were sharable within the "Five Eyes," which are the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads back Monday for Israel and Arab countries in a new bid to push a Gaza ceasefire after Israel killed Hamas' leader, the State Department said.

Blinken, on a trip expected to run through Friday, "will discuss the importance of bringing the war in Gaza to an end, securing the release of all hostages and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people," the State Department said in a statement.