US and Israeli negotiators are expected in Cairo over the weekend for a renewed push to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal in a war that has raged for nearly half a year, reports news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Ahead of the talks, US president Joe Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urging them to dial up pressure on Hamas to “agree to and abide by a deal,” a senior administration official told AFP on Friday night.

The US, Qatar and Egypt have engaged for months in behind-the-scenes talks to broker a ceasefire and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but have made no headway since a week-long truce in November.

The White House confirmed that negotiations would occur this weekend in Cairo, but would not comment on US media reports that CIA director Bill Burns would be attending, along with Israel spy chief David Barnea, Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Israel and Hamas, which negotiate through intermediaries, have traded blame for the lack of progress, say AFP.

“This basic fact remains true: There would be a ceasefire in Gaza today had Hamas simply agreed to release this vulnerable category of hostages – the sick, wounded, elderly, and young women,” the senior Biden administration official said.

Hamas officials and Qatari mediator Al-Thani have previously accused Israel of stymying the truce with objections over the return of displaced Palestinian civilians and the ratio of prisoners to hostages.

During a phone call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden pushed him to “fully empower” his negotiators to reach a deal.

It has just gone 9am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest Guardian live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.

The US is on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran targeting Israeli or US assets in the region in response to Israel’s strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria, a US official told the Reuters news agency.

“We’re definitely at a high state of vigilance,” the official said in confirming a CNN report that said an attack could come in the next week.

Iran has said it reserves the right “to take a decisive response” after suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Damascus on Monday. The strike killed an Iranian military commander and marked a major escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries.

More on that in a moment but first, here is a summary of the latest developments:

• The Israeli military said on Friday that it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.

• World Central Kitchen has rejected as lacking credibility the findings of an Israeli investigation led by a former general into the coordinated series of Israeli drone strikes on the charity’s vehicles in Gaza.

• The UN Human Rights Council has demanded a halt in all arms sales to Israel, highlighting warnings of “genocide” in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 33,000 people.

• More than three dozen congressional Democrats – including representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and a key Joe Biden ally – signed a letter to the president and the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.

• The US was looking into a media report that the Israeli military has been using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN in an interview on Thursday.

• The Guardian has revealed the identity of the commander of Israel’s Unit 8200, which is a closely guarded secret. He occupies one of the most sensitive roles in the military, leading one of the world’s most powerful surveillance agencies, comparable to the US National Security Agency. Yet after spending more than two decades operating in the shadows, the controversial spy chief – whose name is Yossi Sariel – has left his identity exposed online.

• The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said he sincerely hoped Israel quickly and effectively boosted aid access to the Gaza Strip, describing the situation in the Palestinian territory after six months of war as “absolutely desperate”. He was “deeply troubled” by reports that the Israeli military has been using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza.