A political source stated Thursday afternoon that following a preliminary discussion on the latest terms Hamas laid out in the hostage negotiations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the deployment of the negotiation team to continue the talks to secure and agreement to free the 120 remaining hostages in Gaza.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated that the war will end only after all of Israel's objectives have been achieved and not a moment before," the source added.
There appears to be increased optimism among the political echelon this time that a hostage deal can be achieved, as they believe that Hamas has softened its previous demand that any ceasefire be permanent to prevent Israel from fully removing it from power and as a threat in Gaza.
The Prime Minister's Office on behalf of the Mossad announced on Wednesday that the hostage deal mediators have conveyed to the negotiating team Hamas's remarks on the outline of the hostage deal.
It added that: "Israel is evaluating the remarks and will convey its reply to the mediators."
Hamas stated: "We exchanged ideas with the mediators to lead to bring the end of the aggressions against the Palestinian people."
A senior defense official said on Wednesday that "Hamas continues to insist on a principle clause in the deal that would prevent Israel from returning to fight after the first stage of the deal, which is not acceptable to Israel."
The official added that "there are additional differences which were not yet bridged," and emphasized that "Israel will continue negotiations while continuing the military and diplomatic pressure to bring to the release of all 120 hostages, living and dead as one."
Israel estimates that the military pressure in Rafah will influence the negotiations and lead to a stage where Hamas will agree to return to the negotiations table.
According to multiple reports on the proposed plan, in the first phase which will last six weeks, all women will be released along with the elderly and the sick. During this phase, in which 33 dead and living hostages will be released, negotiations will be conducted on the second phase of the deal - which Hamas has so far demanded to include the full withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip. During this stage, the rest of the living hostages will be released.
In these two stages, hundreds of terrorists will be released from Israeli prisons, including those with blood on their hands. After that, in the third stage, the last bodies of hostages who have died will be released.