The White House said onn Sunday that President Joe Biden has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a race to reach a Gaza hostage and cease-fire deal before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20. The White House confirmed that Biden and Netanyahu discussed efforts underway to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining 98 hostages held there.

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal, but still had to get it across the finish line: “we are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done, and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside.”

Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Sunday: “The prime minister discussed with the American president the progress in the negotiations to release our hostages and updated him on the mandate he gave to the negotiating team to Doha in order to advance the release of our hostages. The prime minister wanted to thank the American President (Joe) Biden and the incoming President Donald Trump for their cooperation for the holy mission.”

The call between Biden and Netanyahu comes after the prime minister has been in meetings with his Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who both had previously rejected a peace proposal laid out by Biden in May of last year, which would pair a release of hostages along with a “full and complete ceasefire.”

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