The official said the text for a ceasefire and the release of hostages was hammered out at talks in Doha which included the chiefs of Israel's Mossad and Shin Bet spy agencies and Qatar's prime minister as well Steve Witkoff, who will become US envoy when Trump takes office next week.
Officials from the outgoing US administration are also thought to have participated.
"The next 24 hours will be pivotal to reaching the deal," the official said.
The talks reportedly included incoming Donald Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff (right). (AP PHOTO)
Israel's Kan radio, citing an Israeli official, reported on Monday that Israeli and Hamas delegations in Qatar had received a draft and that the Israeli delegation had briefed Israel's leaders.
Israel, Hamas and the foreign ministry of Qatar did not respond to requests for confirmation or comment.
Officials on both sides, while stopping short of confirming that a final draft had been reached, described progress at the talks.
A senior Israeli official said a deal could be sealed within a few days if Hamas replies to a proposal.
A Palestinian official close to the talks said information from Doha was "very promising", adding: "Gaps were being narrowed and there is a big push toward an agreement if all goes well to the end."
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have worked for more than a year on talks to end the war in Gaza, so far fruitlessly.
Trump's January 20 inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline in the region.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has been pushing Hamas officials. (AP PHOTO)
The president-elect has said there would be "hell to pay" unless hostages held by Hamas were freed before he took office, while outgoing President Joe Biden has also pushed hard for a deal before he leaves.
The official said talks went until the early hours of Monday, with Witkoff pushing the Israeli delegation in Doha and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pushing Hamas officials to finalise an agreement.
The head of Egypt's general intelligence agency Hassan Mahmoud Rashad was also in the Qatari capital as part of the talks, the official said.
Trump envoy Witkoff has travelled to Qatar and Israel several times since late November.
He was in Doha on Friday and travelled to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday before returning to Doha.
Biden also spoke on Sunday by phone with Netanyahu, stressing "the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal," the White House said.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just spoken with US President Joe Biden.— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) The PM discussed with the President the progress in negotiations to release our hostages and updated him on the mandate he gave to the negotiating team to Doha to advance the release of our hostages.January 12, 2025
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, and most of its population displaced.
Both sides have agreed for months broadly on the principle of halting the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel.
However, Hamas has insisted that the deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline nationalist who has opposed previous attempts to reach a deal, denounced the latest proposals as a "surrender" and a "catastrophe for the national security of the state of Israel".
Bloodshed continued in Gaza on Monday, with Israeli military strikes killing at least 15 people, medics said, including five killed in an Israeli strike at a Gaza City school sheltering displaced families.
For the past several months, fighting has been particularly intense along the northern edge of Gaza, where Israel says it is trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping and Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate a buffer zone.
Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida said the group's fighters attacked Israeli forces in the area, killing at least 10 soldiers and injuring dozens of others in the past 72 hours.
Israel confirmed on Saturday that four soldiers had been killed.
