The US president offered the update spontaneously during a visit to New York on Monday, in response to reporters inquiring about when he expected a ceasefire could start.

“My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet,” Biden said. “My hope is by next Monday, we’ll have a ceasefire.”

Biden made the comments in New York after taping an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Over the weekend, Israel’s war cabinet approved the broad terms of a deal to pause fighting for several weeks in exchange for the release of hostages. The weeks-long pause would allow hundreds of trucks to deliver aid to Gaza, where nearly 30,000 have been killed according its health ministry, and disease and hunger have gripped most of the population.

Last week, the United Nations food agency paused aid to northern Gaza, citing Israeli gunfire and “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order”, amid increasing reports of famine.

Biden’s comments came hours after an active-duty member of the US air force died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, to protest the war in Gaza.

US officials hope a multi-week pause in fighting could offer a path to ending the war.

But Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has vowed to continue Israel’s bombardment after the pause. “I’ve set three war goals. The first is to release the hostages. The second is to destroy Hamas.

And the third is to ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future,” he said, speaking on CBS’s Face of the Nation.

“Understand that unless we have total victory, we can’t have peace. We can’t leave Hamas in place.”

The situation has become politically complicated for Biden, who is vying for votes in the US presidential primary elections.

During elections in Michigan on Tuesday, activists have urged Democrats to mark their ballots “uncommitted” rather than support Biden, to push the president to change course and call for a permanent ceasefire.

Original Story By | Léonie Chao-Fong & Maanvi Singh