Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said during an assessment of the situation in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, that "we are pressing to reach a deal to return the kidnapped soldiers in good conditions, and this is a supreme mission."

He added, "This is one of the goals set for the war, and we want to return the kidnapped while they are alive, and this is a basic moral issue, and this requires pressure and killing Hamas leaders and members."

"We will not leave Hamas until we recover the kidnapped soldiers and dismantle its last battalion and company. We are working hard on this and are pressing to move forward to achieve this," Halevy continued.

He addressed the process of retrieving the bodies of the five detainees, saying, "These are very complicated matters."

We were next to these bodies before and we didn't know how to get to them, but then we got to them and we got them back."

Halevy's statements come at a time when negotiations are underway to conclude a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, as the Mossad chief is scheduled to meet on Sunday with the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel.

According to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the ministers who are members of the Political and Security Council (the cabinet) that negotiations aimed at reaching a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas are making progress and are in their final stages.

Israel postponed its negotiating delegation's visit to Doha, which was scheduled for Thursday, to resume talks with mediators on a proposed swap deal, until next week due to a meeting between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden on the same day.

In this context, the leaders of the Israeli security services confirmed in discussions with Netanyahu, in a "decisive manner", that the army would be "able to withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip for a period of 6 weeks", within the framework of a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

The security chiefs considered that "this short period of time (six weeks) will not allow Hamas to rehabilitate itself in a critical way with new means of war, or to build and rehabilitate tunnels," and they said in a message to Netanyahu: "We are aware of the security implications, but now is the right time to prioritize the release of the hostages."