Pressure builds for a truce in Gaza

The US is courting the leaders of Egypt and Qatar in the hope they’ll prod Hamas toward a Gaza truce. [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up [here](. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is courting the leaders of Egypt and Qatar today in the hope [they’ll prod Hamas]( toward a truce with Israel. He’s said his ninth wartime tour is potentially the last chance for a deal to end the fighting in Gaza that health officials in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory say has killed almost 40,000 people. The Arab states are important channels to [the Palestinian armed faction]( which the US is urging to accept a new proposal for a three-phase winding down of hostilities, trades of Israeli hostages for prisoners and [humanitarian aid and reconstruction](. Hamas is still insisting on an end to, rather than just a suspension of, the 10-month Israeli offensive. Yet it finds itself facing an apparently united US-Qatari-Egyptian front: Washington is keen to cap the conflict and focus on a presidential election that has seen pro-Palestinian protests at events for Vice President Kamala Harris, while Middle East capitals are fretting about spillover into a regional war. WATCH: Blinken says the next step is for “Hamas to say yes” to the proposed cease-fire accord. Abeer Abu Omar reports on Bloomberg TV. In El Alamein — the site of a tide-turning World War II battle — Blinken will visit Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi before continuing to Qatar to confer with its emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Their delegates agreed with Israeli negotiators on the updated truce proposal and for follow-up talks in Cairo this week. Those discussions have yet to be scheduled. The question of “what next” will dog Blinken if this push fails. Israelis, after their forces today announced the recovery of six slain hostages, may yet demand redoubled military action. At the same time, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under significant domestic pressure to conclude a deal, they may call for greater flexibility in the talks so that other hostages might come home alive.— [Dan Williams]( Palestinian members of the armed wing of Hamas in 2016. Photographer: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images Global Must Reads Joe Biden delivered an emotional appeal for support for Harris at the Democratic National Convention, saying she would be “a president our children can look up to.” Less than a month after Biden exited the US electoral race, the party used [the opening night]( of the gathering in Chicago to celebrate his presidency and bolster Harris with appearances by luminaries including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 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Two people to watch today: Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, will take part in a rally at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where Republicans held their convention last month. [Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter]( for more from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 1 and 5 p.m. ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television. Chart of the Day Records are being broken across the northern hemisphere this summer following a 13-month streak of hottest-ever monthly global average temperatures. At least two major scientific agencies determined that July set [another high-temperature mark]( while also logging the two hottest days worldwide in recorded history. There’s now a greater than 95% chance this year beats 2023 as the warmest since data-keeping began. And Finally The Golden Triangle, a mountainous region at the conjunction of the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, is wild and remote. 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