The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening expressed "cautious optimism" on the negotiations for a ceasefire-prisoner swap deal with the Hamas terror group.
In a Saturday evening statement, the Prime Minister's Office said: "The hostage negotiation team updated the Prime Minister today on the status of the talks that took place in Doha."
"The team expressed to the Prime Minister cautious optimism regarding the possibility of progress on the deal, in accordance with the updated American proposal (based on the May 27th framework), including components acceptable to Israel.
"It is hoped that the heavy pressure on Hamas by the United States and the mediators will remove its opposition to the American proposal and will lead to a breakthrough in the talks."
According to reports, Israel agreed to compromise on its ability to veto the release of certain highly-dangerous convicted terrorists, in exchange for an increase in the number of hostages released each week during the first stage of the proposed deal.
The US mediators also proposed to support Israel's demand that weapons not be smuggled from southern Gaza to northern Gaza, and that if such smuggling were detected, it would constitute a violation of the deal and allow Israel to resume military operations in Gaza.