US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in Israel on Sunday as mediators seek to cement a Gaza ceasefire deal, while a senior Hamas official dismissed “American diktats” in negotiations. Making his ninth trip to the Middle East sincethe Gaza war broke out following the October 7 attack, Blinken is expected to meet Israeli leaders before truce talks resume in Cairo in the coming days. US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have said negotiations to clinch a ceasefire in the more than 10-month-old war were making progress, and US President Joe Biden said “we are closer than we have ever been”. B…