U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed optimism about an imminent ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas movement in the Gaza war.

“My national security adviser tells me that we are close. We’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,’’ he said in response to a question from the press as he bought ice cream in New York, with television host Seth Meyers.

Qatar, Egypt, and the U.S. have been trying to broker a new ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Gaza for weeks.

He said this in a deal that should facilitate the release of the Israeli hostages still held in the coastal strip.

However, it is uncertain whether the international mediators would be able to negotiate such a deal by March 10, when the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is due to begin.

The media had previously reported that the difficult negotiations were making no progress.

The Israeli television stations Channel 12 and Kan quoted officials as saying that a negotiating framework proposed by the mediators was still not compatible with Hamas’ demands.

Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of blocking the talks.

(dpa/NAN)