
Several families of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip have recently received signs of life from their loved ones, Channel 12 News reported on Friday evening.
According to the report, the signs of life were received after a lengthy period during which almost no signs were received, except for videos released by the Hamas terror organization.
The signs of life were received by the families of several hostages, whose identities were not disclosed to protect their privacy. However, the report noted that there are families who have not received any signs of life from their loved ones for many months.
Channel 12 News also reported that the message received by families of hostages who spoke with officials with knowledge of the matter was that negotiations for a deal are ongoing. The families were told that there has been substantial progress and that initial agreements could be reached within a week to ten days.
According to the sources who spoke with the families, the military pressure is positively influencing Hamas' position in the negotiations. However, the families were also informed that Hamas could "stall" the negotiations at any moment.
Hamas sources on Thursday morning told Al-Akhbar newspaper that the negotiations are going "excellently," and expressed hope that in the near future "we will have an agreement."
However, they added that there are still two issues on which agreements have not yet been reached.
The first is Israel's demand to receive a list of living and dead hostages. According to the terror groups, there must be at least one week of no fighting in order for the terrorists to reach all of the hostages and evaluate their conditions.
Another issue is that according to sources in Hamas, there are not yet agreements regarding Israel's demand to include kidnapped soldiers who fit "humanitarian" criteria in the first stage of the deal, such that an injured soldier would be released in the first stage.
Hamas is claiming that they oppose this demand, stating that it is in contradiction to what has already been agreed upon regarding the ratio of convicted terrorists to be released in exchange for each hostage.
On Monday, Defense Minister Israel Katz stated during a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel is "closer than ever" to a deal with Hamas.
Katz noted that the deal will be carried out in stages and added, "The Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor will not be an obstacle to implementing a deal. There is flexibility from the other side on these issues."
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)