The Israeli government is seeking to move negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement on the release of Israeli prisoners in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to what Israeli media reported this evening, Wednesday.

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (“Kan 11”), citing two sources familiar with the negotiations, reported that “in parallel with the signals regarding an imminent entry into Rafah, Israel has begun drafting new broad lines that will form the basis for negotiations with Hamas.”

It added that "the ministerial members of the Ministerial Council for Political and Security Affairs (Cabinet) will receive a briefing on the development of the negotiation process by the negotiating team" in a session held tomorrow, Thursday.

The broadcasting authority indicated that the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army and General Security (Shin Bet), Herzi Levy, and Ronen Bar, discussed the possibility of moving negotiations forward during their meeting in Egypt with the head of Egyptian General Intelligence, Abbas Kamel.

An Israeli source said, "Egypt is pushing to advance the negotiations because it believes that it can influence Israeli moves in Rafah."

The Walla website quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that the “war cabinet” will discuss Thursday “a new initiative to push towards reaching an agreement to release prisoners held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

The website indicated that the Israeli "war cabinet" discussed, in a meeting held last Sunday, initially, "new ideas by the negotiating team to get out of the impasse that the indirect negotiations have reached" with Hamas.

According to the report, Israeli negotiators will review these ideas in detail before the war cabinet.

Another Israeli official said that the war cabinet assigned members of the negotiating team to formulate the best proposal that they believed was possible to achieve and present it to the political leadership.

The official stressed that these discussions remain “internal Israeli discussions. This does not mean that there is an offer on the table from Hamas or the mediators.”

“Moving the negotiations will lead to postponing the Rafah process.”

In turn, Channel 12 reported that the Israeli army “is standing on the outskirts of Rafah,” indicating its readiness to invade the city, while stressing that the military and security establishment “is demanding that the political leadership take a clear decision regarding the next step.”

According to the channel's military correspondent, the security services are seeking to know where they will move forward in the context of the war on Gaza, and he said that pressure in this regard is escalating and is being reflected on the political leadership.

He added that "Egypt is not an obstacle" to the invasion of Rafah, and said that "the Egyptians want to be partners in this matter," and pointed out that Israel must "continue coordination with Washington to obtain a green light to begin its military operation in Rafah."

He said, "In parallel, Israel is seeking to move negotiations forward by formulating a new proposal. If this is achieved, it will lead to postponing the process in Rafah."

Misleading Israel

In an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a leading source in the Hamas movement said earlier today that the occupation government “is practicing a systematic process of misleading the Israeli public and the families of prisoners held by the resistance, in order to evade the duty to liberate them.”

The source denied the validity of Israeli reports that “Hamas proposed releasing only 20 prisoners instead of 40 during the first phase of the agreement that was finally proposed during the Cairo round of negotiations.”

He added, "This claim was followed by Hebrew press reports indicating that the remaining prisoners alive did not exceed twenty prisoners, which is contrary to reality."

The source revealed that "the movement alone has about 30 generals and Shin Bet officers, who were captured on October 7, from military units and some highly sensitive military sites."

He stressed that "they are specifically in highly secured places far from the hands of the occupation, and it is impossible to reach them."

He stressed that "the only way to liberate the prisoners is through serious negotiations followed by a full commitment to the ceasefire."