The Prime Minister's Office announced on Tuesday evening that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to bring the Israeli negotiation team, which had been in Qatar over the past week, back to Israel for consultations.
The negotiation team includes senior officials from the Mossad, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), and the IDF, and it would return to Israel after a "significant week of negotiations," according to the Prime Minister's Office.
The statement further said that the team was returning “for internal consultations in Israel regarding the continuation of negotiations for the return of our hostages.”
On Monday, a reliable source in the negotiations for a hostage deal denied that Israel would agree to withdraw from most of the Philadelphi Corridor in order to reach an agreement.
The source stated, "The reports in the Arab media are incorrect. Israel has not agreed and will not agree to withdraw from 'most' of the Philadelphi Corridor, as its presence there prevents Hamas from regaining its strength and rearming."
The source's denial came in response to a report on an Egyptian news channel on Sunday, which stated that the deal includes the IDF’s withdrawal from most of the Philadelphi Corridor, as well as an agreement to reactivate the Rafah crossing, in accordance with the 2005 Crossings Agreement, without an Israeli presence.
Despite the fact that briefings from US sources indicating that a deal will be reached soon and that Hamas is seeking an agreement, officials in Israel are tempering expectations, stating that negotiations are indeed ongoing but "one must not forget that we are dealing with monsters."