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Officials from the Palestinian group Hamas have said that an 18-month ceasefire with Israel will be announced within three days.
The officials, speaking in Egypt on Thursday, said the agreement would ensure the end of violence in Gaza and the opening of the territory's border crossings.
Moussa Abu Marzouq, the Hamas deputy political leader, told Al Jazeera that "in two, three days, Insha'Allah [God willing], we are going to announce the calm situation".
Mahmoud al-Zahar, another senior Hamas official, said the parties were now just waiting for "the technical points - the communication between the Egyptian side with the Israelis in order to address the time ... at what time and what date the ceasefire [will] start".
Al Jazeera's Amr El-Kahky, reporting from Cairo, said the apparent breakthrough came after senior Hamas officials met Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence chief, on Thursday.
Egyptian officials have been mediating between Israel and Hamas for weeks.
Taher al-Nono, a member of the Hamas delegation in Cairo, said "most of the obstacles that prevented us from reaching an agreement were resolved".
Gaza war inquiry
The UN secretary-general's office announced on Thursday that an inquiry had been opened into incidents in Gaza during the war.
Comprising members from Britain, the US, Sri Lanka and Switzerland, the board is to "review and investigate a number of specific incidents that occurred in the Gaza Strip" in which death or injuries occurred at UN premises or damage was done to UN premises or operations.
Hamas sources told Al Jazeera that once the ceasefire was in place all crossing points into the Palestinian territory would be opened.
The group said it would accept Israel continuing to ban the import of so-called "dual-use" items which could be used for military purposes, such as some construction material, provided that alternatives could be found.
Hamas has repeatedly sought guarantees that Israel will lift the blockade it has enforced on Gaza since Hamas seized the territory from forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Western-backed Palestinian president, in June 2007.
Abu Marzouq said Egypt was the main guarantor of the deal.
Egypt, a regional mediator and the only Arab state other than Jordan to have signed a peace deal with Israel, said earlier that it would announce "positive" results from the talks in the coming hours.
PHOTO CAPTION
Senior Hamas leaders Mahmoud al-Zahar (L) and Salah al-Bardaweel speak during a news conference after a meeting with Syria's Vice President Farouq al-Shara in Damascus February 11, 2009.
Al-Jazeera
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