Watch a view of Israel-Gaza border amid hope ‘hostages could be freed in coming days’

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Watch a view over the Israel-Gaza border on Monday 20 November.

Israel’s ambassador to the US has expressed hope that Hamas could release a significant number of hostages held in Gaza “in the coming days”, amid reports of talks that are also aimed at securing a days-long humanitarian pause in the conflict.

Declining to go into details of the “very sensitive” negotiations to free some of the estimated 240 captives seized in a brutal cross-border incursion on 7 October, Michael Herzog told ABC’s This Week: “They are very serious efforts, and I’m hopeful we can have a deal in the coming days.”

White House deputy national security adviser, Jon Finer, also said on Sunday that he believed a deal to free a considerable number of hostages could be closer than ever.

“What I can say at this point is that some of the outstanding areas of disagreement, in a very complicated, very sensitive negotiation, have been narrowed,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press programme.