Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it will be clear within days whether the Middle East's crisis-hit peace talks will be extended beyond an April 29 deadline.
His remarks come as US officials work around the clock to prevent a collapse of the negotiations over a dispute about Palestinian prisoners.
"It could be a matter of just days," Netanyahu told ministers on Sunday from his right-wing Likud party who met just before a weekly cabinet meeting.
"Either the matter will be resolved or it will blow up. And in any case, there won't be any deal without Israel knowing clearly what it will get in exchange," he said, according to his spokesman.
"And if there is a deal, it will be put to the cabinet for approval."
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President Shimon Peres, currently on a visit to Austria, noted the sides were "working around the clock in an effort to reach a breakthrough in the talks".
"I hope that in the coming days there will be positive developments in the negotiations," he said.
With the talks teetering on the brink of collapse, Washington has been fighting an uphill battle to coax the two sides into accepting a framework proposal which would extend the negotiations beyond April to the end of the year.
But the matter has become tied up with the fate of 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners who Israel was to have freed at the weekend under the terms of an agreement which brought about a resumption of talks.
Israel on Friday informed the Palestinians they would not free the detainees, with US State Department confirming it was working "intensively" to resolve the dispute.
The Palestinians say they will not even consider extending the talks without the prisoners being freed, but Israel has refused to release them without a Palestinian commitment to continue the talks, prompting a fresh crisis of confidence.
