Israel has “basically signed on” to a six-week ceasefire that would be used to facilitate a second round of swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, a senior US administration official said.
Several hurdles remain before any deal can be agreed, though, including the hostage-to-prisoner ratio that Hamas and Israel agree and a long-standing Hamas demand that a permanent ceasefire come into place after almost five months of war between the Jewish state and the Palestinian militant group.
In a sign of the process’s sluggish progress, an Arab diplomat said on Saturday that further technical negotiations could take place in Cairo as early as Sunday. An Israeli official said it was awaiting confirmation of how many hostages remain alive, and the identities of those Hamas is willing to release, before sending a delegation to Cairo.