Image source, Reuters

What's been described as the "final stages" of negotiations on a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza has been taking place today - but there's been no announcement yet.

Qatari mediators say the last details for a deal between Israel and Hamas are being discussed after all major issues were "resolved". But they've warned that both sides could "still get lost in the details", allowing a deal to fall through.

A final deal would unfold in three phases, our Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf says, with three hostages released on the first day and Israel beginning to withdraw troops after that.

But there's consternation among hostage families, who've demanded any deal ensures all captives are released.

Both Israeli and Hamas officials have expressed optimism that a deal can at last be achieved, while the outgoing US secretary of State Antony Blinken said an agreement was "on the brink".

We are wrapping up our live coverage for now, but you can continue to follow developments on our site, with more coverage below.

Thanks for joining us.

Why are Israel and Hamas fighting in Gaza?

Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

Three things that could make a Gaza hostage deal more likely

Image source, Family handout

Families of hostages being held in Gaza have been speaking to the BBC World Service’s OS programme to the news that a ceasefire deal could be imminent.

Eyal Kalderon is the cousin of Ofer Kalderon, who was taken by Hamas from the Nir Oz kibbutz along with his two children, who have since been released.

He says the children are desperate to be reunited with their father.

“We are hoping that the deal will be closed soon, and we will reach the moment where we are hugging Ofer.

"His four children will hug him, we will take care of him. We are just hoping to see all of the [hostages] here, in Israel.”

Gadi Moses turned 80 while in captivity. His niece Efrat Machikawa says the entire family has been in a state of shock since 7 October – but is holding out hope for his safe return.

“Do you know anyone who is 80? Can you imagine how terrifying this must be? We’re extremely worried for his condition after 15 months, but we will not lose hope. We are just waiting to hug him.”

Tal Chaimi was killed on 7 October, and his body has never been returned to his family.

His cousin Udi Goren says the "deal must go through until the very last hostage is released, and not just this first phase we are hearing about.

"We must make sure that we, Israel, maintain our guarantees."

As mediators say negotiations to reach a ceasefire deal are in their final stages, the BBC OS team from the BBC World Service has received messages from people in Gaza with their reactions.

Seventeen-year-old Sanabel, currently living with her family in her partially destroyed house in Gaza City says: “I can’t believe that I am still alive with this moment of ceasefire in my city - we’ve been waiting for this with bated breath”.

She says everyone in Gaza is “feeling happy, cheerful, optimistic to see their best friends, to see their families who were displaced […] to start over again”.

Sanabel adds that the first thing she will do when the war ends is see her best friend who has been displaced, “hug her tightly”, and “make up for every moment” lost during their separation.

But despite the optimism, she is worried the ceasefire might not last. “I don’t want a ceasefire for a year or for five months. I want a ceasefire […] for the rest of our lives," she says.

Khalid, who lives in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, says people in Gaza “hope the ceasefire will happen soon because they are suffering more and more”.

He says "the people in the south of Gaza are having a festival […] because they think the ceasefire will be soon," and he thinks this is “the real ceasefire”.

Image source, Reuters

Families of Israelis being kept captive in Gaza have demanded that all hostages are released in any ceasefire deal after they held meetings today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It is understood the proposed ceasefire deal will work in stages, meaning not all hostages will be released straight away.

Speaking after meeting Netanyahu, Shay Dickmann, whose cousin was killed in Hamas captivity, says families are "very disturbed" that "we have not yet agreed upon all of the hostages coming home".

He adds: "We said, and Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed, that time is of the essence and that time does not work with the hostages."

Ruby Chen, father of hostage Itay Chen, adds: "It's time for a deal that includes everybody. That is what we demand and what we expect from the prime minister."

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

After the 15 bleakest months of their lives, Gazans are once again daring to hope that the end of their ordeal is close.

“You can never imagine how excited and nervous people are here,” Asmaa Tayeh told me by text from the house in northern Gaza where she and her family are sheltering.

“Everyone is waiting as if they will only survive after the announcement,” she added.

Asmaa is from Jabalia, the Gaza Strip’s largest refugee camp. We told her story back in August - a story of narrow escapes and frequent evacuations.

When the Israeli military returned to Jabalia in October, the family was forced to flee once more, again seeking refuge in her grandparents’ house in al-Nasr, a short distance to the west.

Fierce fighting has raged in Jabalia ever since. If the war does now end, there will be nothing for the family to return to.

“My whole area is wiped out now,” she told me at the end of December.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, there are signs that Israel and Hamas could be on the brink of reaching a ceasefire agreement, more than 15 months after the war began in Gaza.

If you're just joining us, here's the latest:

• Talks to reach a deal resumed this morning in Doha, with key mediator Qatar saying an agreement was "very close"
• Our Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf says there would be three phases to the deal, with three hostages released on the first day and Israel beginning to withdraw troops after that
• An Israeli government official who asked to remain anonymous said "real progress" has been made over the past few days but that the deal is "not there yet". The leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, a Palestinian political party based in the West Bank, told the BBC they believe Hamas has accepted the deal.
• A mediation expert believes the Israeli PM is going to hold off from agreeing to a deal until 20 January - the day Donald Trump is sworn in again as US President. "It will be Netanyahu's gift to the new president," Oliver McTernan, director of conflict resolution charity Forward Thinking, said
• We also heard from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who said the ongoing war in Gaza has inflicted "immeasurable" suffering on the region, and spoke of the need to "forge a new reality" in the Middle East. Blinken said he believes there will be a ceasefire, and that the "ball is now in Hamas's court"

Stay with us as we continue to bring you all the key developments from the region.

There have been repeated efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza since a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas in November 2023 broke down on the seventh day.

Here's a timeline of how we got to today.

• 31 May 2024 - US President Joe Biden outlines an Israeli draft ceasefire deal
• 9 November - After months of negotiations, talks stall as Qatar suspends its efforts as mediator. It says Israel and Hamas need to shift their positions before talks can resume
• 20 November - US blocks a separate Gaza ceasefire draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council, saying it "abandoned" the necessity for there to be "a linkage between a ceasefire and the release of hostages"
• 27 November - Israel agrees a ceasefire with Lebanon to end its war with the armed group Hezbollah, a key ally of Hamas. The ceasefire reignites hope for a deal in Gaza
• 28 November - US President Joe Biden says the US will renew its efforts to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas
• 17 December - After months of deadlock, a senior Palestinian official says the indirect talks are in a “decisive and final phase” while Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says an agreement is closer than ever. Days later, the BBC hears the deal is 90% there
• 4 January - indirect ceasefire talks resume in Qatar
• 13 January - The BBC reports that Israel and Hamas are on the brink of a ceasefire agreement

Blinken has now finished his statement to the Atlantic Council think tank - his last as the US's top diplomat.

He then takes part in a question-and-answer session with the Atlantic Council representative who introduced him.

When asked about Hamas's stance on the ceasefire agreement, Blinken says it's "right on the brink, it's closer than it's ever been before," but they "await the final word from Hamas on its acceptance".

He says this could come "anytime", from days to hours.

Blinken says from early on, they were working to develop a "detailed post-conflict plan".

This will be handed to the incoming Trump administration.

Blinken says they hope international partners can help run Gaza, with input from the UN to oversee the "international stabilisation and security effort".

He also says partners should contribute troops to focus on "law and order".

Some partners have already agreed, he says, but "if and only if it is agreed that Gaza and the West Bank are reunified... as part of a pathway to an independent Palestinian state".

He says they may face challenges in the future, as Israel will have to work on its relationship with Gaza.

Blinken is now explaining the US's previous drafts for a ceasefire deal, which included an initial six-week ceasefire pause and:

• Israeli forces pulling back
• Hostages starting to come home
• Palestinian prisoners released
• And humanitarian aid increased

This, he says, would also create space for finalising a "day-after plan" - the term for how Gaza would be governed after the war - to allow the full withdrawal of Israeli forces to make the ceasefire permanent.

On Sunday, US, Qatar and Egypt put forward a final plan, Blinken says.

"The ball is now in Hamas's court," he says, as he stresses that the deal is ready to be concluded and implemented.

Blinken says he believes there'll be a ceasefire. Whether this happens in the final days of the Biden administration or after, he says it will follow closely the deal Biden put forward last May.

Blinken speaks of the need to "forge a new reality" in the Middle East, before a third heckler begins speaking.

"You lied," they say, as they discuss how much money has been used to aid Israel.

Resuming his speech, Blinken says the US has a goal of ending the war in Gaza and normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Blinken is now turning his attention to the hostages being held in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis in the besieged strip.

For those with loved ones still being held hostage, every day brings anguish about not knowing whether or not they are alive, the secretary of state says, highlighting the people who were taken on 7 October.

He says the ongoing war in Gaza has inflicted "immeasurable" suffering on the region.

Blinken notes that tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza and nearly the entire population is having to endure hunger. Most of the two million inhabitants have been displaced, many multiple times, he adds.

The more people suffer, the less they feel sympathy for the suffering of the other side, he says.

Blinken is interrupted by a second female heckler.

He remains calm as she shouts "you have no compassion" and calls him a "war criminal".

Blinken goes on to summarise the state of play in the Middle East.

"Hamas has been decimated," he says. "Iran is on its back foot" and Israel has destroyed Tehran's air defences.

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group based in Lebanon, "is a shadow of its former self".

He also mentions that the Assad regime in Syria has fallen.

Blinken continues to describe how he had been scheduled to travel to Israel on 10 October to a discuss credible Palestinian state, but this meeting was cancelled following Hamas's deadly cross-border attacks on 7 October.

Hamas sought to spark a regional war that would derail this agreement, knowing that doing so would inflict suffering on both sides, he says.

He goes on to defend the president's record on the ongoing war, highlighting how he travelled to the region in the middle of a war and pledged "unrelenting efforts to secure the release of hostages".

Blinken starts by outlining his government's foreign policy achievements, but is then abruptly interrupted by a heckler who says he will "forever be known as bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide".

The female heckler goes on to say: "You have the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on your hands."

Blinken says he respects her views before she is led out.

Blinken is now speaking in what will be his last speech as the US's top diplomat.

Stay with us for updates.

We're still waiting to hear from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose update on the Middle East has been delayed.

The diplomat is set to deliver remarks in Washington, hours after a key mediator in the talks on a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza said an agreement is "very close".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to talk about the future of the Middle East shortly, and we can expect him to address the prospect of a Gaza ceasefire.

We'll bring you the key lines.

Israel's government will vote on any ceasefire deal, a spokesman has said.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer says any agreement would be put to the cabinet for a vote, just as the last temporary truce was in November 2023.

"Again, this is not concluded yet - it's very important to remember that. We are moving closer but this is not concluded yet."

As we mentioned earlier, two far-right ministers have threatened to quit over the deal, which they labelled a "surrender" to Hamas.

The current war in Gaza began when the Palestinian armed militant group Hamas, which governed Gaza, carried out an unprecedented cross-border attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken back to Gaza as hostages.

Israel then launched a military offensive in Gaza - starting with air strikes and then launching a ground invasion - pledging to destroy Hamas’s governing and military capabilities.

More than 46,600 people have since been killed in Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, which are broadly accepted by the UN and others.

The UN also estimates that at least 1.9 million people in Gaza - or about 90% of the population - have been internally displaced.

More than 100 hostages have been freed through negotiations and prisoner swaps with Israel or by Israeli military rescue operations.

A total of 94 hostages taken in the 7 October attacks remain unaccounted for. Sixty of them are assumed by Israel to still be alive.