US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed to “rally international support” to aid Gaza while keeping any assistance out of the hands of its militant Hamas rulers as he began a regional tour to shore up last week’s ceasefire.

The 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas killed more than 250 people, mostly Palestinians, and caused destruction in the impoverished coastal territory.

The truce that came into effect last Friday has so far held, but it did not address any of the underlying issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something Mr Blinken acknowledged after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We know that to prevent a return to violence we have to use the space created to address a larger set of underlying issues and challenges, and that begins with tackling the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza and starting to rebuild,” he said.

“The United States will work to rally international support around that effort while also making our own significant contributions.”

Mr Blinken said the US would work with its partners “to ensure that Hamas does not benefit from the reconstruction assistance”.

He will not be meeting with Hamas, which does not recognise Israel’s right to exist and which Israel and the US consider a terrorist group.

Mr Blinken addressed the larger conflict, saying: “We believe that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely.”

However, the top US diplomat faces the same obstacles that have stifled a wider peace process for more than a decade, including a hawkish Israeli leadership, Palestinian divisions and deeply rooted tensions over Jerusalem.  

Mr Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political life after a fourth inconclusive election in two years, faces mounting criticism from Israelis who say he ended the offensive prematurely, without forcibly halting rocket attacks or dealing a heavier blow to Hamas.

Mr Netanyahu hardly mentioned the Palestinians in his remarks, in which he warned of a “very powerful” response if Hamas breaks the ceasefire.

He spoke of “building economic growth” in the occupied West Bank, but said there will be no peace until the Palestinians recognise Israel as a ­“Jewish state”.  

The war was triggered by weeks of clashes in Jerusalem between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site revered by Jews and Muslims that has seen several outbreaks of Israeli-Palestinian violence over the years.

The protests were directed at Israel’s policing of the area during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the threatened eviction of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers.

The evictions were put on hold just before the Gaza fighting erupted, but the legal process is set to resume in the coming weeks. Police clashed with protesters at Al-Aqsa last Friday, hours after the ceasefire came into effect.

Adding to the tensions, an Israeli soldier and a civilian were stabbed and wounded in east Jerusalem on Monday before police shot and killed the assailant.

Early yesterday, a Palestinian man was shot and killed by undercover Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Mr Blinken travelled to Ramallah late yesterday to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has no power in Gaza and was sidelined by recent events.

Mr Abbas heads the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank but whose forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007.

Mr Abbas, who called off the first Palestinian elections in 15 years last month when it appeared his fractured Fatah movement would suffer an embarrassing defeat, is seen by many Palestinians as ­having lost all legitimacy.  

However, he is still seen internationally as the representative of the Palestinian people and a key partner in the long-defunct peace process.  

Mr Blinken will also visit neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, which have acted as mediators in the conflict.