TEL AVIV — During a whirlwind round of diplomacy on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry asserted that progress had been made on forging a cease-fire to halt the bitter fighting in Gaza between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants there led by Hamas.

“We will continue to push for this cease-fire,” Mr. Kerry said. “We have in the last 24 hours made some progress in moving towards that goal.”

But even as Mr. Kerry pressed his case with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, a defiant note was struck by one figure whom the secretary of state has conspicuously not talked with: Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas.

“Everyone wanted us to accept a cease-fire and then negotiate for our rights,” Mr. Meshal said at a news conference in Qatar, his home in exile, taking aim at the very approach Mr. Kerry has sought to nurture. “We reject this, and we reject it again today.”