The former US senator was holding talks in Jerusalem with Benjamin Netanyahu, officials said, following separate meetings on October 9 with the premier and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Mitchell held talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman late on October 10 and with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on October 11 beforee returning to Jerusalem for talks with Netanyahu.

The US envoy arrived in the region on October 7 and is pushing to get Israelis and Palestinians to agree to restart peace negotiations that were suspended in December after the start of the Gaza war.

Mitchell, who played a key role in the diplomacy that preceded the 1998 Good Friday peace deal in Northern Ireland, admitted he was facing an uphill task in his latest mission, saying on October 9 that “we do not underestimate the difficulty for us or the parties”.