The Mini Ministerial Council for Security and Political Affairs discussed the proposal for a prisoner exchange deal with the Hamas movement, which was presented and discussed during the Paris meeting held a few days ago with the participation of officials from America, Israel, Qatar and Egypt.

The Haaretz website quoted sources who participated in the cabinet session as saying, “The proposed deal will extend for 142 days, while the parties related to the deal have made it clear that it will not extend for more than two months.”

A source who participated in the session stated, “According to the principles presented at the session, 35 kidnapped women, the elderly, and the sick will be released in the first batch in exchange for a 35-day ceasefire (one truce day for each kidnapped person).”

He added, "After that, there will be negotiations regarding the second batch, which will continue for 7 days. After the second batch, 100 more kidnapped will remain to be released, and for each one of them there will be a truce day. Therefore, the deal will extend to 100 days and continue for many months."

According to the same source, "The proposal raised a lot of criticism among a number of cabinet members, who opposed a long-term ceasefire and the release of the kidnapped people in batches."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during the cabinet session, “There are three conditions that cannot be accepted, which are: First, we cannot allow the war to stop after we started it to eliminate Hamas. Second, we will not allow the release of thousands of ‘terrorists’ this is a fact whose meaning is clear for all of us". Thirdly, we will not remove the army from the Gaza Strip.”

He added, referring to the threats of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to topple the government if it agreed to a deal with conditions unacceptable to him, “Our strength is in our unity. I hope everyone stays here, and if that is not the case, we will all be harmed.”

This comes at a time when Hamas has not yet submitted its response to the swap deal proposal, while the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier that the movement received the ceasefire proposal in a “positive atmosphere” and that it is awaiting its response to it.

A senior Hamas official said on Friday that the movement will respond “in the near future” to a proposal that includes extending ceasefire periods in the war on Gaza and a phased prisoner exchange, noting that a permanent ceasefire represents the most important element for Hamas and that anything Another negotiable.

Israeli sources reported earlier that Tel Aviv had not received an official response from Qatar regarding Hamas' response, while it was likely that this would occur in the next few hours.

Talks are continuing, especially in recent days, regarding concluding a new prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, as a Paris meeting was recently held with the participation of officials from Washington, Qatar, Egypt, and Israel in order to push towards concluding the deal.

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Israel, and the occupied West Bank in a new Middle Eastern tour during which a ceasefire agreement will be pushed and a prisoner exchange deal will be concluded.