After months of saying a ceasefire and a hostage-release deal was close at hand, senior US officials are now privately acknowledging they don’t expect Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement before the end of President Biden’s term, The Wallstreet Journal reports.

The administration won’t stop its pursuit of an agreement, seeing it as the only way to end the bombardment in Gaza and stop a rapidly escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.

The White House has previously said the warring parties have already agreed to “90 per cent” of the deal’s text, so hope remains for a breakthrough.

But a number of top-level officials in the White House, US State Department, and Pentagon argue the warring parties won’t agree to the current framework.

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