US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he may go to the Middle East at the end of this week as a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is "very close."

"I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday, actually," Trump told reporters at the White House. "And we'll see, but there is a very good chance. Negotiations are going along very well."

Meanwhile, the most promising effort yet to end the war in Gaza was bolstered as senior figures from Israel and the United States joined the negotiations on Wednesday after Hamas handed over its lists of hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be freed in a swap.

:With President Donald Trump's 20-point plan appearing closer than any previous bid to halt the war, delegations were upgrading their presence at the indirect

See Full Page