Al Jazeera reported from sources on Saturday evening the Israeli response to the ceasefire with Hamas, while Axios also revealed that CIA Director Bill Burns proposed a mediation plan during negotiations regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for every Israeli captive as part of the first phase of the deal. According to Al Jazeera's sources, the Israeli response included a limited return of 2,000 displaced persons daily to northern Gaza two weeks after implementation began, along with detailed points regarding prisoner exchanges and conditions for halting operations.
The sources indicated that the Israeli response maintained a framework for an agreement in three phases, while Tel Aviv conditioned the release in the first phase on the return of 40 living Israeli captives from all categories. They added, "Israel's response presented to the mediators rejects halting the war, pulling back its forces, and allowing the return of displaced persons unconditionally, and included the right to deport prisoners serving life sentences who will be released under the deal outside of Palestine."
The same sources mentioned that Israel requested, in exchange for the release of prisoners re-arrested from the Shalit deal, the release of soldiers Goldin and Aaron, while rejecting Hamas's demand to release 30 life sentence inmates for every female soldier, offering only five whom they would specify.
Additionally, Axios reported that CIA Director William Burns presented during the negotiations a mediation proposal regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released for every Israeli hostage as part of the first phase of the deal. According to Hebrew media site Walla News, the Israeli delegation accepted the proposal, but Hamas has not yet given its response.
The site noted that "the significance of the American proposal lies in the fact that the issue of keys determining the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released for each Israeli hostage, categorized by gender, age, and military status, is the main issue around which negotiations have revolved in recent days." It stated that "other disputed issues are awaiting resolution of this matter."
