A security source told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Israel is still waiting on Hamas for a list of live hostages it is planning to release in the talked-about deal. Without the list, advancement on the talks will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, the source added.
Additionally, a working group delegation was still in Qatar on Sunday evening to attempt to advance talks. This is not a senior team.
Sources also told The Jerusalem Post that there is some progress in hostage deal negotiations. However, there are substantial difficulties on the path to a deal.
There are gaps - some of which can be bridged, and some are very difficult, the sources told the Post, a week after there were optimistic indications from several reports that a deal could be reached.
Despite this, the sources emphasize that some progress was made in the past week, and in a few cases, the gaps have narrowed, but as previously said, there are still quite a few difficulties.
On Sunday, the security cabinet met for a discussion in the North, and like last week, the ministers were not updated on the talks for the deal as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempt to limit as much as possible those who know what is really happening in the closed rooms.
On Saturday, a Palestinian official participating in the talks told the BBC that hostage deal and ceasefire negotiations are 90% complete.
'The less we speak about this, the better'
Last Sunday, Netanyahu, while describing a conversation he had with president-elect Donald Trump, said, “We discussed the need to complete Israel’s victory and spoke extensively about the efforts we are making to bring our hostages home. We are working tirelessly to bring back our hostages, both the living and the fallen."
“I’ll add that the less we talk about this, the better our chances of success, and with God’s help, we will succeed,” he concluded.
The same day, in a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Defense Minister Israel Katz said, “The less we speak, the better. In my opinion, we are closest to a deal since the last hostage exchange, and it will receive a majority in government if it is brought to a vote.”