President Joe Biden spoke by phone to the leaders of Qatar and Egypt on Friday, pushing for an elusive Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal as negotiators met in Cairo to try to overcome remaining obstacles.

Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and the director of Egyptian intelligence Abbas Kamel are meeting Hamas negotiators on Wednesday to try to break the deadlock in the hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal talks,

The meeting was intended to try to get Hamas to ease its new demands on the release of additional Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israel.