Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Monday morning that officials in the General Staff confirmed that they see an opportunity to achieve a breakthrough in the negotiations with Hamas, and they want the political leadership to exploit it to reach an agreement.

Yedioth Ahronoth referred to a letter from senior officials in the General Staff, who hold key positions in the army, indicating that some of the signatories to the letter had previously doubted the possibility of reaching a deal. The letter coincided with a warning from the head of the prisoner file in the army of a real danger to the lives of Israeli prisoners in Gaza.

The military leaders attributed their opinion to several factors indicating a change in the status quo. These factors, according to them, are: the end of the war in Lebanon, the separation of fronts and the concentration of military weight on Gaza, developments in Syria, internal pressure in Gaza, and internal pressure in Israel.

The leaders added in their letter that the change in the US administration and the Egyptian efforts "which are striving with all their might to push the exchange deal forward" could help reach an agreement.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported yesterday, Saturday, that Donald Trump "is interested in pushing towards reaching an agreement, even before his return to the White House on January 20, and has conveyed a message to Netanyahu that Israel must end the war, before the change of power in the United States."

This comes as Major General Nitzan Alon, who is responsible for the prisoners' file in the army, warned that the prisoners' condition is deteriorating, and some of them are starving, as a result of the shortage of food supplies in the Strip. He also warned that some of the prisoners are in very serious health conditions, and there is a danger to the lives of some of them.

According to Channel 13, the security establishment in Israel estimates that the number of living prisoners is less than half the number of prisoners still in the Gaza Strip.