Israeli officials said that a delegation from the Mossad, Shin Bet and the army will head to Doha tomorrow, Wednesday, after completing consultations in Israel following their return from Cairo, to continue talks aimed at reaching an agreement on a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media quoted a senior official as saying that "the delegation will continue discussions with mediators with the aim of narrowing the gaps in the outstanding issues within the framework of the prisoner exchange deal." It stated that "in Doha, the delegation will meet with representatives from Egypt, Qatar and the United States."

Yesterday evening, Monday, the Israeli technical delegation returned from Cairo, a day after the departure of the heads of the Israeli security services who are leading the negotiations. They informed the political leadership in Israel, according to “Kan 11,” that “the chance of reaching a deal is slim,” stressing the need to “exhaust the talks even if the chance is low.”

Earlier today, two Israeli security officials confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wasting time in negotiations over a ceasefire and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.

The two officials said that Netanyahu had tasked the negotiating team this week with presenting a proposal on the Netzarim axis during the Cairo talks, a proposal that Hamas and the mediators had rejected in the past, according to what the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Tuesday.

This proposal calls for digging transverse channels along the Netzarim axis in a way that prevents vehicles from crossing, and directing vehicles coming from the south of the Gaza Strip and heading north towards the east, towards an Israeli security buffer strip inside the Strip that extends to the fence surrounding the Strip, called the “perimeter,” where they are searched before entering the north of the Strip.

This proposal was removed from the negotiating agenda for several reasons, including that its implementation would take a long time, would destroy the area for which the "perimeter" was established, and would lead to significant congestion in Palestinian traffic, in addition to the fact that Hamas and the mediators completely reject it, according to the newspaper.

The White House confirmed that the ongoing negotiations to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange deal will continue at the working group level over the next few days to resolve some specific issues.

In a briefing to reporters online, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby rejected suggestions that the talks had broken down during the latest round in Cairo, claiming they were instead "constructive."

"The talks have already progressed to a point where they felt the next logical step was to form working groups at lower levels to sit down to work out these finer details," Kirby added.

He added that US President Joe Biden's senior advisor for Middle East affairs, Brett McGurk, who is participating in the rounds of talks conducted through mediators, will leave Cairo soon after staying an additional day to start the working group talks.

Kirby said that one of the issues that the working groups will address is the exchange of prisoners held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. He said that the details that will be settled include the number of prisoners who might be exchanged, their identities and the pace of their possible release.

Months of intermittent talks have failed to reach an agreement to end Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since the Qassam attack on October 7, or to release prisoners held in the Strip.

The latest round of negotiations took place amid the risk of regional escalation, with Lebanon's Hezbollah firing hundreds of rockets and drones at Israeli targets on Sunday, and the Israeli military saying it had struck Lebanon with about 100 aircraft to thwart a larger attack.

Key points of contention in the ongoing talks brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include the Israeli presence in the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. “There is still progress, and our team on the ground continues to describe the talks as constructive,” Kirby said.

In turn, Hamas leader Taher al-Nunu stressed that the American statements regarding the status of the ceasefire talks are not consistent with the truth and aim to support the occupation's positions. The movement said in a statement issued last Sunday that "talk about an imminent agreement is false."

Two Egyptian sources said that Israel had expressed reservations about a number of Palestinian prisoners whose release Hamas was demanding, and Israel demanded that they leave Gaza if they were released.