Benjamin Netanyahu has said there is no deal “as of now” to release the hostages, denying reports of a five-day pause in fighting to hand over dozens of captives.

The Israeli prime minister dismissed “unsubstantiated rumours” and “incorrect reports” during a press conference on Saturday evening, promising to give news when he had it.

It comes as the Washington Post reported that Israel, the United States and Hamas had reached a tentative agreement to free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting.

The hostage release could begin within the next several days, barring last-minute hitches, the paper reported, citing people familiar with the detailed six-page agreement.

Under the agreement, all parties would freeze combat operations for at least five days while 50 or more hostages are released in groups every 24 hours. It was not clear how many of the 239 people who are believed to be hostages in Gaza would be released.

Mr Netanyahu told a press conference on Saturday evening: “Concerning the hostages, there are many unsubstantiated rumours, many incorrect reports.

“I would like to make it clear: As of now, there has been no deal. But I want to promise: When there is something to say – we will report to you about it.”

The White House also said Israel and Hamas have not yet reached a deal on a temporary ceasefire, adding the US is continuing to work to get a deal. A second US official also said no deal had been reached.

Hamas took about 240 hostages during its Oct 7 attack inside Israel that killed 1,200 people.

The outline for the deal was reportedly put together during weeks of talks in Qatar. The pause is also intended to allow a significant amount of humanitarian aid in from Egypt.

Mr Netanyahu is reportedly due to meet with the families of hostages with his war cabinet on Monday.

It comes after Joe Biden, the US president, said a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas would not bring peace.

In an opinion article in the Washington Post on Saturday, Mr Biden said Hamas would merely exploit it to “rebuild their stockpile of rockets, reposition fighters and restart the killing by attacking innocents again”.

“As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a ceasefire is not peace,” he wrote.

Mr Biden said Hamas hid “among Palestinian civilians”, used “children and innocents as human shields” and positioned “terrorist tunnels beneath hospitals, schools, mosques and residential buildings”.

“If Hamas cared at all for Palestinian lives, it would release all the hostages, give up arms, and surrender the leaders and those responsible for October 7,” he said.

He proposed that a “revitalised” Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war as one unit until a two-state solution can be definitively agreed upon.

Asked about the US president’s proposal, Mr Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv the Palestinian Authority in its current form was not capable of being responsible for Gaza.

Israel has not disclosed a strategy for Gaza after the war.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said he had growing confidence that a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas would be reached, adding challenges that remained were “very minor”.

“The challenges facing the agreement are just practical and logistical,” Sheikh Mohammed said at a joint press conference with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Doha.