Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a rare Friday night telephone consultation regarding the negotiations on the hostage deal, a senior Israeli official stated.
According to the official, the consultation will include security chiefs as well as ministers Israel Katz, Gideon Sa'ar, Ron Dermer, Bezalel Smotrich, and MK Aryeh Deri. This is an unusual consultation taking place on a Friday night.
Earlier, a diplomatic official said that the Israeli negotiation team is expected to return from Cairo on Friday evening after a day of talks on extending the first phase of the hostage deal and the ceasefire in Gaza. The discussions are set to continue on Saturday.
On Thursday, a senior Israeli official told Walla! that the goal of the talks in Cairo is to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to extend the ceasefire for an additional 42 days, during which more Israeli hostages would be freed and Palestinian Arab terrorist prisoners would be released.
If an agreement to extend the ceasefire is reached, the additional period will be dedicated to negotiations on the second phase of the deal, the official added. As part of this phase, Israel and the United States are demanding that Hamas' leadership leave Gaza in exchange for ending the war.
An Israeli source said on Thursday that Israel is expecting additional hostages to be released in exchange for an extension of the ceasefire in Gaza.
Those comments came a day after Kan 11 News reported that Israel is in discussions with the United States to extend the ceasefire for another few weeks so more hostages are released.
Asked on Thursday about a possible extension of the hostage deal, US President Donald Trump told reporters that "we have some pretty good talks going on".
(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.)