U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken on Friday sought to begin discussions with Israel's Arab neighbors on the future of Gaza, even as Israel resumed its assault on the Palestinian enclave aimed at annihilating Hamas.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Israel.

Discussions with Arab foreign ministers covered the current state of the Israeli-Hamas war and the work being done to deliver more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Blinken told reporters before boarding a flight back to Washington.

He said they also talked about "what happens the day after in Gaza and how we can get on the path to a just, lasting and secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians, in fact for everyone in the region."

Arab states had previously pushed back on U.S. attempts to discuss a post-Hamas future for Gaza, arguing for an immediate ceasefire instead, but U.S. officials hoped this week's pause in fighting may have paved the way for talks, a senior State Department official said before the meeting.

That pause broke down on Friday, however, and Blinken did not provide details on how the discussion went.

Concluding his third trip to the region since the conflict erupted with Hamas' attacks on Israel in October, Blinken met the foreign ministers of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, alongside representatives of the Palestinian Authority on the sidelines of the COP28 UN climate conference in Dubai, said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Blinken has been conducting shuttle diplomacy between Israel and Arab states since the Oct. 7 attacks, which Israel says killed 1,200 people and about 240 taken hostage. Israel responded with aerial bombing and a ground invasion that have killed 15,000 people and left thousands more buried under the rubble, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The senior State Department official said earlier that Washington wanted to begin talks on how the Gaza strip will be administered if Israel succeeds in its goal of eradicating Hamas.

Blinken last month said Washington wants Palestinians to govern Gaza and does not want to see the territory reoccupied by Israel, blockaded or reduced in size.

No clear proposal has yet emerged for Gaza's future security and governance, but Washington wants to get discussions started and wants countries in the region to participate, said the official, who briefed reporters ahead of the meeting on condition of anonymity.

Last month, Blinken rebuffed Arab foreign ministers' appeals for Washington to press Israel to agree to a lasting ceasefire, arguing that would only allow Hamas to regroup and launch further attacks.

On Thursday, Blinken met Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and said he discussed the need for reforms of the Palestinian Authority, amid concerns over the organization's ability to play a role in Gaza, currently administered by Hamas, bitter rivals of Abbas.

Blinken on Friday blamed Hamas for the end of the truce that had seen the release of about 100 hostages and allowed more aid to flow into Gaza, saying the group launched rocket attacks and reneged on commitments it had made on the release of hostages.

"We remain intensely focused on getting everyone home, getting hostages back," Blinken said. "We’re still at this."

In meetings with Israeli officials, Blinken pressed for Israel to "put in place clear protections for civilians and for sustaining humanitarian assistance going forward" and credited Israel for advising Gazans on safe evacuation areas, he said.

Blinken sees goals largely unfulfilled in Mideast trip, even as Israel pledges to protect civilians.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media prior to departure from Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emorates, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. The United States remains "intensely focused" on freeing hostages held in Gaza despite the resumption of the Israel-Hamas war after a week-long truce, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Mideast this week pressing for agreements to extend the Gaza cease-fire, step up the release of hostages held by Hamas and limit Palestinian civilian casualties if fighting with Israel resumed. He left Friday with his goals largely unfulfilled.

Blinken wrapped up his third Middle East tour since the Israel-Hamas war started in October with decidedly mixed results. He watched as the seven-day cease-fire agreement collapsed under new Hamas attacks and Israeli airstrikes.

And, it remained uncertain if Israel would follow through on commitments to protect Palestinian civilians from military operations in the southern Gaza Strip, as he warned they should, or whether Hamas would engage in future hostage negotiations.

Blinken arrived in Israel on Thursday with hopes to see a further extension of the cease-fire agreement under which Israel had halted most military operations in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Blinken said Friday that Hamas bore the blame for the failure while the U.S. would continue to push for extensions to release hostages and boost the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Yet, he also warned Israel that it must adhere to international laws of war as it prosecutes its campaign to eradicate Hamas.

“It came to an end because of Hamas,” Blinken said of the cease-fire. “Hamas reneged on commitments it made. In fact, even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious terrorist attack in Jerusalem, killing three people, wounding others, including Americans.”

“It began firing rockets before the pause had ended and, as I said, it reneged on commitments it made in terms of releasing certain hostages. We remain intensely focused on getting everyone home, getting hostages back,” Blinken told reporters in the United Arab Emirates. "We’re still at this.”

His comments came after he met with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai on Friday to discuss the Gaza situation on the sidelines of the COP28 climate change conference. Blinken saw his counterparts from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian Authority, according to the State Department.

He said they discussed the need to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, to secure the release of hostages, protect innocent life and begin to plan for a post-conflict Gaza, an issue that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many Arab leaders have been loath to discuss while the hostilities are continuing.

A day earlier, he had said in Tel Aviv that “the way Israel defends itself matters. It’s imperative that Israel act in accordance with international humanitarian law and the laws of war, even when confronting a terrorist group that respects neither.”

But as he left the region it appeared uncertain that Israel would follow through on commitments it made to him to protect Palestinian civilians from military operations in the southern Gaza Strip or that Hamas would engage in future negotiations over hostage releases.

“We saw Israel take steps immediately today to start to get information to people about where safe areas are, how they can get out of harm’s way,” he said, referring to leaflets dropped by Israel informing Palestinians in Gaza that their neighborhoods would be targeted and they should leave.

“I haven’t had a chance to see exactly what happened today,” he said when asked about reports that the Hamas-controlled Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said more than 100 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Friday.

“I saw the plans that Israel has in a multiplicity of ways to do everything possible to protect civilians, including making sure that they have the information they need and there are ways to accommodate them,” Blinken said. “This is going to be very important going forward. It’s something we’re going to be looking at very closely.”

During his visit, Blinken lauded accomplishments he said the Biden administration had achieved in intensive diplomacy conducted by himself, the White House and the CIA: an increase in aid to Gaza, the release of some 100 hostages and the exit from Gaza of some foreign nationals.

Still, as he left the region, the major question remained unanswered. What happens if and when Israel wins?

“It is important for us to be talking about and thinking about every aspect of this challenge – not only today but also what happens the day after the conflict in Gaza is over,” Blinken said. “How are we thinking about what happens in Gaza itself? How is it governed? Where does the security come from? How do we begin to rebuild? And critically, how we get on a path to invest in lasting peace. And for us, of course, that has to result in a state for the Palestinians.”