The Families of Israeli Prisoners in Gaza Authority called for demonstrations in Tel Aviv and several Israeli cities on Saturday evening to demand a deal that would return all prisoners held in the Strip.

The families of the Israeli prisoners said that "the leadership must reach an agreement now that guarantees the release of all the kidnapped," and that "ending the war is not a failure and is not a price, and the most important thing is the return of our sons."

These calls coincide with increasing indications that an agreement is close to being reached between the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas and Israel, leading to a prisoner exchange deal.

The families of the Israeli prisoners continue to escalate their movement demanding an end to the war and the return of their sons, and they say that the military pressure pursued by the government "led to the deaths of the prisoners and did not achieve any accomplishment" in this regard.

In turn, the leader of the opposition in Israel, Yair Lapid, called on Israelis to demonstrate in Tel Aviv this evening in order to what he called "putting the state back on the right track."

Israeli media reported yesterday that Hamas is demanding the release of Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti as part of the exchange deal, while the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced progress in the negotiations, without reaching a final agreement.

For weeks, Israeli media has been talking about unprecedented progress in a prisoner exchange deal, while Hebrew reports say that “there has been no serious breakthrough in the ongoing ceasefire talks in Gaza.”

The newspaper "Israel Today" quoted an informed source earlier that progress had been achieved in the exchange deal talks, and that negotiations to formulate the deal may be completed after the Jewish holidays at the end of this month, with the agreement being implemented over long periods.

The newspaper said that the main point of contention between Hamas and Israel remains the number of prisoners to be released, noting that despite the gaps between the two parties, the message received from the mediators (Egypt and Qatar) raised more optimism compared to the past.

For its part, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted sources it described as high-ranking that unprecedented progress had occurred in the issue of the exchange deal, and that this week would be decisive in the indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Channel 12 Israel also quoted sources close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that he is more determined than ever to reach an agreement.

The families of the prisoners held in Gaza, along with the opposition leaders in Israel, have previously accused Netanyahu's government of thwarting negotiations to return the "kidnapped" soldiers.

This comes as the occupation army continues its war on Gaza since October 7, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs, wounded and missing amid a humanitarian situation described as catastrophic and a worsening famine looming over the besieged Strip.