Mediators were due to meet in Qatar on Tuesday to try to finalize a proposed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The talks come after 15 months of fighting and people familiar with the talks said this week was a breakthrough in the effort to end the war in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden said on Monday that the deal was “on the verge” of “finally coming to fruition”.
In a speech at the State Department to highlight his foreign policy accomplishments, Biden said the deal would “free the hostages, stop the fighting, provide security for Israel and allow us to significantly increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinians , who were suffering badly in this war.”
According to the basic parameters of the ceasefire proposal, this process will run in several phases.
Hamas will release hostages the militants have been holding since they attacked Israel in October 2023, while Israeli authorities will release Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli troops will carry out a phased withdrawal from Gaza, and some Palestinians displaced by the conflict will be allowed to return, along with increased aid for Palestinian civilians.
Months of talks led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have failed to stop the fighting, but in recent weeks, the effort has gained momentum at a time when the US is preparing for a change in its leadership.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told MSNBC on Monday that the two sides were “closer than ever” to a deal, and said the ball was in Hamas’s court.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Monday that Biden administration officials were keeping President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast advisers briefed on the talks. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has joined the latest round of talks.
On October 7, 2023, Israel launched an attack on Hamas in Gaza after Hamas fighters attacked its borders, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli data.
Since then, more than 46,500 people have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, although Israel says the death toll also includes thousands of Hamas fighters it has killed.
A narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, much of Gaza has been devastated by fighting and has been hit by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its 2.3 million population often displaced multiple times.
White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some content came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.