US President Joe Biden on Monday expressed optimism about an imminent ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas movement in the Gaza war. “My national security adviser tells me that we are close,” he said in response to a question from the press as he bought ice cream in New York, with television host Seth Meyers. “We’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,” Biden said. Qatar, Egypt and the US have been trying to broker a new ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in Gaza for weeks, in a deal which should to facilitate the release of the Israeli ho…