US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that he discussed the need for Hamas to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza in his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

"In my discussions with President Erdogan and Minister Fidan, we talked about the need for Hamas to agree to a possible ceasefire agreement to help end this situation," Blinken added after meeting with Fidan in Ankara.

Top US officials are in the Middle East to push for stability in Syria and an end to Israel's 14-month war in the Gaza Strip in a last-ditch diplomatic push by the outgoing Biden administration before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in a few weeks.

He stressed that he asked Turkey to use its influence with Hamas to push the Palestinian movement to agree to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"We very much appreciate the role that Türkiye can play in using its voice with Hamas to try to get this done," he said after high-level talks in Türkiye.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Jordan and Turkey for talks on how to ensure a peaceful transition of power in Syria after the ouster of President Bashar Assad, while White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was in Israel trying to broker a ceasefire with Hamas.

Experts believe a ceasefire would hand US President Joe Biden a final diplomatic victory after a turbulent period in which his administration was unable to stop Israel's brutal war that has killed tens of thousands in Gaza and plunged the region into a humanitarian crisis.

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, Sullivan expressed cautious optimism that conditions were in place to halt the long-running conflict before the Biden administration leaves office.

He said he believed the goal of a ceasefire could be achieved before January 20, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Rapid changes across the region have improved the chances of success, Sullivan said.

Israel says it seeks to destroy Hamas’s governing and military capabilities, and has continued its devastating war on Gaza despite U.S. calls for restraint to achieve that goal. At the same time, Hamas has stuck to its demands that any ceasefire include a permanent end to the fighting and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The United States has supported Israel with unprecedented military and diplomatic support, but has at times appeared powerless to persuade Israel to minimize civilian casualties and enable more humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza.

Israel has been waging war since October 7, 2023, shortly after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched a sweeping attack on the Gaza envelope area, killing about 1,200 people in Israel, including 311 soldiers, and taking 250 others hostage. The Israeli war has also killed 45,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children, according to health officials in Gaza, and has caused widespread displacement and led to severe famine throughout the region.

U.S.-led ceasefire efforts have repeatedly faltered throughout the war, with both warring sides blaming each other for the failure.