This indeed may be the closest the negotiating sides have come to reaching a deal, after more than a year of failed attempts. "The ball is now in Hamas's court. If Hamas accepts, the deal is ready to be concluded and implement it," Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said, strongly suggesting that Israel has already accepted. Blinken emphasized the deal is "ready to be concluded and implemented."

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has not confirmed acceptance, and there's been frustration in the past over last minute additions from the Israeli side which has blown up draft agreements. But a final Netanyahu decision is said to be just hours away, and a deal could be proclaimed by Wednesday morning.

Blinken described that American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators submitted the final draft hostage deal to Israel and Hamas on Sunday, and there have been optimistic statements ever since, especially in Biden's final foreign policy address on Monday.

Blinken in fresh remarks stressed, "I believe we will get a ceasefire. Whether we get there in the remaining days of our administration, or after January 20, the deal will follow closely the terms of the agreement that President Biden put forward last May and that our administration rallied the world behind."

Blinken explained that "at different moments, different parties have made it hard to finalize an agreement or events have delayed or derailed its completion."

"For the past several months, Hamas has played the spoiler, but over the past several weeks, our intensive efforts have brought us to the brink of full and final agreement," he said. Of course, the Palestinian side has laid blame squarely on the Israelis.

An urgent meeting of Netanyahu's security cabinet, set to convene tonight, could give final approval for the deal:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold an urgent meeting with top security officials Tuesday night, according to an Israeli official.

The security consultation will be about a potential deal that would release the hostages, the official told CNN. Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri told CNN the meeting will be a "status [of the deal] discussion."