U.S. hopes Gaza cease-fire can be reached ‘in the coming days’

Officials negotiating Gaza ceasefire talks have tentatively agreed to the “basic contours” of a deal, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday, adding that the United States hopes a final agreement can be reached “in the coming days.”

Sullivan, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” declined to give specifics but urged negotiators to move swiftly on any deal, which could see ramped-up aid to Gaza and the release of some hostages still held by Hamas.

“We hope that in the coming days, we can drive to a point where there is actually a firm and final agreement on this issue,” he said. “So we are telling everyone, including the Israeli government, that it is our firm position that every effort be exercised to get to this agreement, and then we can move forward from there.”

Sullivan’s remarks came after a round of talks was held in Paris on Friday, when officials from Israel, Egypt, the

United States and Qatar, which acts as an intermediary for Hamas, met to discuss a new framework for a deal. Negotiations had stalled over the past few weeks after Israeli forces pressed further into Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hamas’s cease-fire demands “delusional.”

But on Saturday, Netanyahu said he was convening his war Cabinet to deliberate the new framework, after which they would decide whether to move forward with negotiations. It was unclear Sunday whether the government approved new talks, but reports in Israeli media, citing unnamed officials, said the Cabinet responded positively to the proposal.

The next step, according to Sullivan, will include discussions by Qatar and Egypt with Hamas. “That work is underway,” he said.

On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Netanyahu said Israel wants a deal to free the hostages and hopes Hamas will abandon its “crazy demands.”