Channel (13) reported on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to send a delegation from the Israeli Intelligence Agency (Mossad) to the Qatari capital, Doha, to complete prisoner exchange negotiations with Hamas and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The channel reported that "Netanyahu is expected to decide within the next few hours whether or not to allow Mossad chief David Barnea to leave for Qatar."

The channel expected, based on the Prime Minister's discussion on Friday regarding the detainees' file with the heads of the security services in Israel, that Netanyahu agreed to send Barnea to Doha to complete the negotiations to complete the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

It stated on its website that "Netanyahu is inclined to send the Israeli negotiating delegation to Doha in light of the progress he has seen in the negotiations themselves."

The channel quoted a senior Israeli official - who was not named - as saying, "If the Israeli negotiating delegation receives the final approval from Netanyahu, it will leave the next day," without mentioning further details.

On Friday, the Hebrew Channel Kan quoted unnamed informed foreign sources as saying that "Tel Aviv agreed to advance negotiations on the second phase of the prisoner swap deal in parallel with the implementation of the first phase, with the aim of ensuring the continuity of the process until all prisoners are released."

Although the details of the first and second stages of the potential deal are still unannounced, Hebrew media outlets, including the official broadcasting authority, say that the first stage includes the release of the elderly and the sick, while the second stage includes the release of soldiers.

The prisoner exchange negotiations, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, have stumbled more than once, due to Netanyahu’s insistence on maintaining control over the Philadelphi Corridor on the border between Gaza and Egypt, and the Rafah crossing in Gaza, and preventing the return of Palestinian faction fighters to northern Gaza by searching returnees through the Netzarim corridor in the middle of the Strip.

For its part, Hamas insists on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a complete cessation of war, in order to accept any agreement.