The negotiations focused on freeing Edan Alexander, the only American Israeli hostage still believed to be alive, and the bodies of four other U.S.-Israeli dual citizens who were kidnapped and taken to Gaza in the October 2023 attack, officials told The New York Times.

The announcement signaled a breakdown in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, the first phase of which expired Saturday with no clear next steps.

A tense cease-fire between Israel and Hamas continued to hold amid a stalemate over an Israeli block on humanitarian aid going into Gaza after Hamas rejected a U.S. proposed extension.