The source said that a ceasefire in Gaza may be signed in the coming days, as Israeli strikes continue

The United States, joined by Arab mediators, sought on Wednesday to reach an agreement between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to stop the 14-month-old war in the Gaza Strip, where medics said Israeli strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians overnight.

A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said on Wednesday that the mediators had narrowed the gaps on most of the terms of the agreement. He added that Israel put forward conditions that Hamas rejected, but he did not provide details.

Sources close to the talks in Cairo said on Tuesday that an agreement could be signed in the coming days on a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in a house in the northern town of Beit Lahia, while six were killed in separate airstrikes in Gaza City, the Nuseirat camp in the central regions, and Rafah near the border with Egypt.

In Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said that four people were killed in an air strike on a house. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military spokesman.

Israeli forces have been operating in the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, as well as in the nearby Jabalia camp, since October in a campaign that the army said was aimed at preventing Hamas activists from regrouping.

The Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” to evacuate the northern end of the Strip and create a buffer zone. Israel denies this.

Hamas does not disclose its losses, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health does not distinguish in its daily death toll between fighters and non-combatants.

The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it bombed a number of Hamas activists who were planning an imminent attack against Israeli forces operating in Jabalia.

Later on Wednesday, Mohammed Saleh, director of Al Awda Hospital in Jabalia, said Israeli bombing in the nearby area damaged the facility, wounding seven paramedics and a patient inside the hospital.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment.

In the Bureij camp in central Gaza, Palestinian families began leaving some areas after the army posted new evacuation orders on .

The ceasefire is gaining momentum

The American administration took the lead, and mediators from Egypt and Qatar joined it Intensive efforts in recent days To advance the talks before US President Joe Biden leaves office next month.

In Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Adam Buehler, US President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy for hostage affairs. Trump threatened that “all hell will break loose” if Hamas did not release its hostages by January 20, the day Trump returns to the White House.

Other informed sources said that CIA Director William Burns is scheduled to arrive in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday for talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani about bridging the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas. The CIA declined to comment.

Israeli negotiators in Doha on Monday were looking to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas over the agreement outlined by Biden in May.

There have been repeated rounds of talks over the past year, but all have failed, with Israel insisting on maintaining a military presence in Gaza and Hamas refusing to release the hostages until forces withdraw.

The war in Gaza, sparked by a Hamas-led attack on towns in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, sent shockwaves across the Middle East and left Israel isolated internationally.

The Israeli campaign led to the killing of more than 45,000 Palestinians, the displacement of most of the population of 2.3 million people, and the transformation of a large part of the coastal strip into rubble.