U.S. officials now believe that a Gaza cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas is not expected before the end of President Joe Biden's term in January, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The newspaper cited top-level officials in the White House, State Department, and Pentagon without naming them.

Washington has previously said that 90% of that agreement to secure a cease-fire and release of hostages had been reached but gaps remained over Israeli presence in the Philadelphi corridor on Gaza's border with Egypt and over specifics on release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Biden himself has for months been pressing parties hard to agree to a cease-fire, and the prediction would represent a failure of those efforts. 

His administration has faced sustained criticisms for its response to the unrest in the Mideast. Biden has alternately drawn fire from critics for being too soft on the terrorists who orchestrated a lethal massacre against Israel last October, and being either too hard or soft on Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu over the conduct of the prolonged and deadly retaliatory war he's waged in Gaza. 

Newsmax contributed to this report.