Palestinian Arab sources have claimed that negotiations on a prisoner swap have stalled due to Israel and the brokers.
According to the reports, Israel and the brokers were not willing to reach a final agreement on all stages of the swap, focusing only on the first stage, which includes the release of 40 vulnerable and civilian hostages.
Israel has demanded that the Hamsa terror group provide a list of which hostages are still alive and their conditions, but Hamas has refused to comply. On Monday, Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas leader, told AFP that the terror group doesn't know how many of the hostages it kidnapped to the Gaza Strip in its October 7 attack on Israel are still alive.
"Of the prisoners, we don't know exactly who among them are alive or dead, killed because of strikes or hunger," he said, adding, "There are prisoners held by numerous groups in multiple places" in Gaza.
Naim added that "a ceasefire is necessary so that we can carry out (checks) on this issue... regarding the names, numbers and their status whether alive or dead."
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, Ismail Haniyeh, accepted the proposed deal for a ceasefire in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages, but the organization's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, rejected it.
According to the report, Hamas has walked away from the ceasefire talks in Egypt and demanded greater concessions from Israel.