Israel's Netanyahu says deal could be near for Gaza hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages held in Gaza that a deal that would secure their release could be near, his office said on Tuesday, as fighting raged in the battered Palestinian enclave.

Israeli forces pressed on with a new raid into Gaza's southern area of Khan Younis after ordering civilians to evacuate some districts they said had been used for renewed attacks by Palestinian militants.

Thousands of people were fleeing for safer areas as Israeli airstrikes hit, U.N. officials said.

Netanyahu is currently in Washington and is expected to meet US President Joe Biden later this week after making an address to Congress.

Speaking in the US capital on Monday to families of hostages, he said: "The conditions (for a deal) are undoubtedly ripening. This is a good sign."

Efforts to reach a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, outlined by Biden in May and mediated by Egypt and Qatar, have gained momentum over the past month.

"Unfortunately, it will not take place all at once; there will be stages. However, I believe that we can advance the deal and leave us in possession of the leverage to bring about the release of the others (hostages not freed in first stage)," Netanyahu said.

Ruby Chen, the father of dual US-Israeli citizen Itai Chen, a soldier whose body is being held in Gaza, was one of the family members who met with Netanyahu.

"He did say that conditions were ripening but I'm taking that with a pinch of salt," Chen told Israeli Army Radio.

Chen said he hoped Biden, who on Sunday withdrew his bid for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate in November's US election, would apply more pressure on Netanyahu to secure the deal.

A Palestinian official close to the mediation effort accused Netanyahu of stalling.

"Hamas has shown the flexibility needed for an agreement to be reached and the ball is in his court," the official said.

An Israeli negotiation team was due on Thursday to resume talks that would include hostages being released in return for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In a week-long truce in November, 105 hostages were freed in return for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

The hostages were seized in the Hamas raid into southern Israel on October 7 in which about 1,200 people were killed and around and 250 taken captive, according to Israeli tallies.