US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading today for talks in key mediator Qatar after Hamas gave a reply to a US-led proposal for a ceasefire in conflict-ravaged Gaza, AFP reports.

Blinken, on a four-country swing around the Middle East to push Hamas to accept the truce proposal, will meet the top leadership of Qatar, which has transmitted messages to the Palestinian group.

Blinken will meet in Doha with both the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who is also the wealthy kingdom’s top diplomat, according to the State Department.

Later, he will fly to Italy to join Biden at the summit of the Group of Seven major industrial democracies.