Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he is making contacts to return prisoners held by Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.

This came during a meeting with the families of the prisoners at the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Defense in the city of Tel Aviv (central), according to a statement issued by Netanyahu’s office.

Netanyahu said: “We are in contact until this moment. The situation cannot be detailed, and we are working to recover them all.”

Netanyahu did not provide further details about these communications, their content, or the parties they included, according to the same source.

Families of Israelis detained in Gaza called for demonstrations in West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Thursday evening, demanding that the government work to return their families.

These families have been demanding for weeks a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of Israeli detainees for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

For its part, the Hamas movement has stipulated, on more than one occasion, a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza to begin prisoner exchange negotiations.

During the past few days, official Hebrew, private and Arab media reported on the existence of negotiations between Israel and Hamas, under Egyptian and Qatari sponsorship, regarding a prisoner exchange agreement between the two parties.

While neither Hamas, Egypt, nor Qatar issued official statements or positions regarding these negotiations or regarding the proposals presented to the factions and Israel.

In its attack on the Gaza Strip settlements on October 7, Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis, wounded about 5,431, and captured at least 239. It exchanged dozens of them with Israel during a temporary humanitarian truce that lasted 7 days and ended in early December. .

According to Hebrew media, the temporary truce resulted in the release of 105 civilians detained by Hamas, including 81 Israelis, 23 Thai citizens, and one Filipino.

Palestinian prisoners' institutions reported that, under the temporary truce, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from its prisons - 71 female prisoners and 169 children.

Israel estimates that there are about “137 hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip,” according to identical media reports and statements by Israeli officials.