The Hamas terror group is insisting on the release of extremely dangerous prisoners, including murderers with blood on their hands, even in exchange for the release of "humanitarian" hostages, Kan 11 News reported Saturday, quoting a source involved in the talks.
The report falls in line with a similar report from the Washington Post, which quoted a senior US official.
The "humanitarian" group of hostages includes women, children, the ailing and injured, and the elderly. Hamas has reduced the number of humanitarian hostages it is willing to release from 40 to 33, and now to 20. It is also insisting on inserting the words "living or dead" into the agreement.
An Arab source involved in the negotiations said that Hamas did not increase the number of terrorists it is demanding released in exchange for each hostage. Instead, the disagreement currently focuses on the number of "heavy" prisoners to be included in the exchange.
The source also claimed that Hamas did not toughen its stance but instead is keeping to the terms of the agreement, as they were set out at the start of the negotiations.
At the same time, Israeli and foreign sources involved in the negotiations expect that the chances of a deal are low. In their opinion, the disagreements seem significant, and without flexibility from both sides, it will be difficult to reach agreements.
On Wednesday, a US official admitted during a press briefing that Hamas has toughened its positions over the course of the negotiations for a ceasefire-prisoner swap deal.