Israel is preparing for the possibility an agreement over a Gaza deal may be announced early on Thursday morning, Israeli media reported on Wednesday night, citing an Israeli official.
Israeli and diplomatic sources told The Jerusalem Post earlier on Wednesday they were "optimistic about the prospects of reaching a deal" regarding the ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
"We are entering the critical hours," the sources added.
An American official told the Post that the administration is highly confident that the chances of reaching a deal are very good. The goal for all parties involved in the negotiations is to reach an agreement by this coming Friday.
US President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that he may travel to the Middle East "by the end of the week, maybe on Sunday," noting that negotiations with Hamas "seem to be going well," and that an agreement is "very close" to being reached.
There has been good progress in the talks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed. Developments have been progressing by the hour, he added, stating that he also "may be heading to the region soon."
An Egyptian source close to the negotiations told Sky News Arabia that mediators have given Israel and Hamas until Friday morning to agree to the first phase of the agreement.
An additional source told the Post that, as the deal currently stands, Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sa’adat will not be released.
Further, a source told the Post that Abbas al-Sayed will also not be released as part of the deal.
“The situation in the talks has gone beyond what you’d call ‘optimism,’” one source told the Post. “A more accurate description would be ‘very close to a deal.’”
Another source said, “The talks are in a very positive place. There will be a deal - the only question is when it will be announced.”
Israel assesses Hamas may be unable to return all murdered hostages, sources tell CNN
Israel has assessed that Hamas may not be able to find and return all the remaining murdered hostages still in the Gaza Strip, three Israeli sources told CNN on Wednesday evening.
The sources told the American outlet that the Israeli government is aware that Hamas may not know the location or be unable to retrieve the remains of some of the 28 murdered hostages whose remains have not yet been returned to Israel.
One of the sources claimed that the number is between seven and nine, with another putting it between 10 and 15, CNN reported.
The sources claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of the cabinet have been aware that Hamas do not know the location of some of the murdered hostages' remains for some time, and therefore may be unable to meet the demand to return their remains.
CNN asked the Israeli government for comment.
Washington has also known of the issue for some time, according to the CNN report.
Signals from Cairo remain contradictory, source tells 'Post'
A source in the Gulf told the Post that signals from Cairo remained contradictory, with Palestinian interlocutors openly discussing the types of weapons they expect to receive while Israelis refused to entertain any language implying withdrawal.
Israeli officials kept conspicuously quiet, the source said, a silence some regional players read as a sign that a workable framework could be taking shape behind the scenes.
According to the source, Israeli negotiators continued to anchor their positions to the contours of the Trump plan, while Palestinian counterparts rejected the idea of Turkish forces in Gaza and spoke instead about allowing only Arab observers.
The same source said there was growing chatter that the Nobel Peace Prize calculus might be feeding the president’s interest and momentum on the file, although that speculation has not altered the reality that both sides remain far apart on core security issues.
In parallel, Netanyahu’s emboldened posture toward Iran has become more evident across multiple channels, the source noted, reinforcing Israel’s insistence that any arrangement must constrain Tehran’s reach and its proxy networks.
That stance, they added, is shaping Israel’s red lines on border security, weapons flows, and the make-up of any external monitoring force.
Officials on all sides appeared to be using selective leaks and pointed briefings as tools to test one another’s limits and to shape public narratives while talks continued.
“Much of what is being floated is tactical,” the Gulf source said, “which is why the quiet from the Israeli side could be the most telling indicator that something real is being explored.”
Hamas understands it needs to release all hostages
A source involved in the negotiations said Hamas understands it will need to release all the hostages and is now trying to maximize gains on other issues.
“Hamas is currently under pressure from Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt. It will try to secure a more significant Israeli withdrawal, hard guarantees from the US administration that Israel won’t resume the war, and also to get the release of prisoners it wants freed from Israeli jails.”
"We are cautiously approaching the completion of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement," a senior Israeli official told international media earlier on Wednesday.
The same official told Walla that "Israel has agreed to Trump's plan, Hamas has agreed to the first phase of the plan, and we are expecting a conclusion."
US officials also confident, optimistic of agreement being reached
In addition, a senior White House official told Sky News Arabia that "the technical negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh have reached a decisive stage."
Another US official told the outlet that they are "optimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement soon."
An Israeli source told the same outlet that the agreement is close, noting that the IDF's Gaza Division has completed preparations to receive hostages. The Israeli source insisted that Israel will not accept any proposals that were not part of Trump's 20-point plan.
Palestinian sources told Sky News Arabia on Wednesday that the next 48 hours would be decisive in determining the fate of the talks amid intense pressure from Washington to reach an initial agreement, including a ceasefire and a hostage exchange.
The two sides are moving closer to an understanding that could lead to a deal acceptable to both parties, a Palestinian source told Israeli public broadcaster KAN News.
Additionally, the impression is that discussions are progressing positively, at least regarding the release of hostages held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, as well as Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, an Arab diplomat involved in the talks told KAN.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that negotiations to stop the war in Gaza had made "a lot of headway" and that a ceasefire would be declared if they reached a positive outcome.
Fidan said the talks in Egypt, in which Ankara is taking part, are focused on securing a ceasefire, exchanging hostages and prisoners, allowing more aid and coordinating a timetable for a withdrawal of Israeli forces.
President Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have made it clear they intend to remain in Sharm El-Sheikh until an agreement is reached.
Another reason for the growing expectation that a deal will eventually be reached is the fact that a ‘credit race’ has already begun between Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar. Both Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have publicly expressed optimism about the state of the talks.
Officials previously affirmed their 'cautious optimism'
Israeli officials told the Post that they were "cautiously optimistic" at the end of the talks on Monday.
Director of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT) İbrahim Kalın and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also joined the talks on Wednesday.