The Israeli Foreign Intelligence Service (Mossad) said that the mediators (Egypt and Qatar) presented to Israel the Hamas movement’s response to the ceasefire proposal in Gaza, and Tel Aviv will study it.

This came according to a Mossad statement, published by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, via the “X” platform, on Wednesday evening.

For its part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that it would study Hamas' response and respond to the mediators.

Israeli Channel 12 quoted informed sources as saying, “For the first time, Hamas’s response allows progress, and there is ground for negotiations.”

She added that Netanyahu will hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss Hamas' response to the swap deal proposal.

In turn, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that it had exchanged some ideas with the mediators with the aim of stopping the aggression against the Palestinian people.

On the other hand, the Israeli Prisoners' Families Association said, "We will not allow the government to obstruct reaching the exchange deal again."

Deal proposal

US President Joe Biden had presented a plan to reach a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas and end the war in the Gaza Strip, in a speech he delivered on May 31, in which he presented an Israeli proposal in this regard consisting of 3 stages.

Al Jazeera obtained a copy of the document on the basic principles of the exchange deal and the return of complete calm in the Gaza Strip, which is the basis of negotiations between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel.

The first phase - according to this proposal - will last 6 weeks, and includes a comprehensive and complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas in Gaza, and the release of a number of detainees in Gaza - including the wounded, the elderly, and women - in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

At this stage, the remaining bodies of Israeli prisoners in Gaza will also be handed over, and the Palestinians will return to all areas of Gaza, including the north, and aid will enter the besieged Strip at a rate of 600 trucks per day.

According to Biden's proposal, during these six weeks, Israel and Hamas will negotiate a permanent ceasefire, but the truce will continue if the talks remain ongoing.

The second phase will include the exchange of all living prisoners, including Israeli soldiers, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, while the third phase will include the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the opening of border crossings.

Since the end of the previous truce at the beginning of last December, the indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel have faced many obstacles as a result of the occupation’s insistence on continuing its aggression under the pretext of “achieving the goals of the war, recovering detainees, and achieving progress in the talks through military pressure.”