Hello and welcome to Newsar from the BBC World Service.

Coming to you live from our studios in central London, I'm Julian Marshall.

We begin with growing optimism that an agreement is close on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.

We've been here before, of course, but could this time,

as ever, with caveats, be different? Mediators in Qatar are said to have given the final draft

of an agreement to both Israel and Hamas after a midnight breakthrough, with both sides talking of

progress. But there's little detail of what progress means.

Sticking points in the past have included whether an initial truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire

and whether the Israeli military would commit to fully withdrawing from Gaza.

Speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon

Saar, said Israel wanted a deal.

Progress was made.

We see some progress in the negotiations.

Israel wants a hostage deal.

Israel is working with our American friends in order to achieve a hostage deal,

and soon we will know whether the other side wants the same thing.

President Biden spoke by phone to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday,

urging an immediate ceasefire

in what is the final week of his presidency. And speaking in the past couple of hours, he said

a deal was near. We're in the brink for proposal that I laid out in detail months ago,

finally coming to fruition.

I have learned many years of public service to never, never, never, ever give up.

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