Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the hostage-ceasefire deal delegation to leave for Cairo to engage in talks regarding the continuation of the ceasefire on Thursday.
The delegation will be led by Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Persons, Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch, as well as "M," an anonymous officer from the Shin Bet. M is the former deputy of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who is reportedly no longer part of the hostage deal negotiating team.
In a Thursday meeting with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said, "Our delegation will depart for Cairo to assess whether there is common ground for extending the framework in exchange for the return of more hostages."
Israeli officials told the Jerusalem Post that Israel wants and is willing to continue phase one of the deal. This would mean that three hostages would continue to be released each week in return for humanitarian aid and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Hamas has also recently stated that the only way the remaining hostages will be freed is through a commitment to a ceasefire deal.
Maariv reported that the goal is to have the organize the next hostage release as early as Saturday.
The decision to send the negotiating team to Cairo was made during a telephone security consultation led by the Prime Minister and attended by Ministers Israel Katz, Ron Dermer, Gideon Sa'ar and Bezalel Smotrich, and Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri, Maariv added.
Katz statements
Earlier on Thursday, Defense Minister Katz said "Israel is prepared to extend the ceasefire to bring back more hostages—all of them. The most effective way to achieve this goal is a real and credible military threat—and that is the strategy."
However, he also said that "Phase one has ended; we have brought back 25 hostages alive, including the female soldiers. This was not at all the case in some of the earlier stages of the negotiations, where the discussion was about 10 or 12 hostages. We also brought back 8 who are no longer alive."