A senior US administration official said the hostage-free operation would likely "complicate" Secretary of State Antony Blinken's efforts to release the rest held by Hamas as part of a deal.

According to the same senior official, quoted by NBC today (Monday), the release of the “hostages” is not the problem in itself, but “this strengthened Netanyahu’s determination to continue military operations instead of agreeing to a ceasefire, as well as Sinwar's determination to continue fighting due to the large number of Palestinian deaths who were martyred during the operation. In addition, the same official indicated that due to Benny Gantz's withdrawal from the government, this constitutes, according to him, an additional complication to efforts to reach an agreement.

The report comes against the backdrop of the expected arrival today of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Israel, who will also visit Egypt and Jordan and conclude his visit in Qatar on Wednesday. Blinken will try to present the US's latest blueprint for the swap deal.