A Palestinian boy inspects the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza City's Daraj neighborhood on Dec. 17, 2024 (Omar al-Qatta/AFP)
"We believe we are getting closer to a Gaza cease-fire deal," stated White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby on Tuesday in an interview with American news outlet Fox News.
Also Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Cairo for truce talks in Gaza, sources briefed on the meetings said.
Egypt's state-affiliated al-Qahera news said on Tuesday there were "extensive" Egyptian-Qatari efforts with all parties to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza.
As negotiations unfold, Hamas said a cease-fire and hostages deal in Gaza was possible if Israel stops setting new conditions, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
The statement comes after sources briefed on meetings related to the cease-fire talks told Reuters that a deal was expected to be signed in the coming days.
The Hamas Oct.7, 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures and includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 45,028 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the figures from the territory's health ministry which the United Nations says are reliable.