US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads back to the Middle East on a new push for an elusive Gaza ceasefire two weeks before US elections, seeing a new opportunity from Israel’s killing of Hamas’ leader, AFP reports.

It will be the 11th trip to the Middle East by the top US diplomat since conflict broke out a year ago, with Blinken on his last visit to Israel in August warning it may have been the “last chance” for a US-led ceasefire plan.

Blinken’s trip comes days after he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Israel that the United States could withhold some of its billions of dollars in military aid unless more humanitarian assistance is allowed into Gaza, where the UN warns more than 1.8 million people are facing “extreme hunger”.