Israel-Gaza updates: Netanyahu says Israel 'can't be flexible' on some issues

A 10-month-old baby has become the first confirmed case of polio in Gaza, as international aid organizations and the United Nations push for a temporary humanitarian cease-fire to administer polio vaccinations, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The baby, located in is in Deir al-Balah, had not received a polio vaccination.

"The continued brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has resulted in a health disaster, as attested by international organizations. The lack of basic hygiene needs, the lack of sanitation services, the accumulation of waste in the streets and around the places where displaced persons are sheltered, and the lack of safe drinking water have created an environment conducive to the spread and transmission of many epidemics, including waterborne diseases such as the vaccine-derived polio virus," the ministry said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel on Saturday amid reports Hamas and Israel are close to a cease-fire deal.

Blinken will head to Israel Saturday to "continue intensive diplomatic efforts to conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees through the bridging proposal presented today by the United States, with support from Egypt and Qatar," according to the state department.

Cease-fire negotiations are "now in the end game," according to a senior U.S. official, who discussed what to expect over the next week as a deal is on the brink of finalizing.

The main elements of the proposal that President Joe Biden laid out on May 31 remain, but negotiators have taken the areas of disagreement and "bridged those in a way that we think basically is a deal that is now ready to close and implement and move forward."

"There is still more work to do, and over the course of this week, there are working group engagements to talk about everything from the list of hostages and the sequence by which hostages would be released, the list of Palestinian prisoners, because ultimately, this is an exchange, similar to what you saw in the November cease-fire deal," the official told reporters Friday.

Getting to this point has been "extremely complicated" and the portion of the deal focusing on the exchange of prisoners and hostages was a "large basis" of the talks in Doha, Qatar.

"There was some gaps there, and some trade space between the parties, which I think we've now gone a long way to bridge," the official said.

With tensions remaining high as Iran weighs a retaliatory attack on Israel, the official said if Iran really does want to see a cease-fire deal reached, "now is an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is and to basically work towards the conclusion of this."

"It's just ironic, it was Hamas, a proxy of Iran, started this war on Oct. 7, and it would be ironic if Iran were to do something to basically derail what we think is the best opportunity for the comprehensive cease-fire and hostage during these deal that we have had in many months."

President Joe Biden says negotiators are "closer than we've ever been" on reaching a deal and "much, much closer" than they were three days ago.

"We are closer than we ever been. I don't want to jinx anything," Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. "We may have something, but we're not there yet. But it's much, much closer than it was three days ago."