Senior Hamas official: "I won't reveal more than that, but it's close."

Amid reports of progress in the negotiations for a hostage release deal, a senior official of the murderous terrorist organization Hamas, Ezzat al-Rishq, declared this evening that the deal is closer than ever.

According to a report by 'Israel Hayom' journalist Shahar Kleinman, in a statement he made a short while ago, Al-Rashak said: "I can say, and I won't reveal more than that, that the negotiations for a ceasefire are being conducted in complete secrecy until we ensure the readiness of its conditions."

"What I can say is that we are close to announcing the terms of the ceasefire and its mechanisms and implementation, and it won't be many days from now," said al-Rashak.

Meanwhile, after many months of requesting a meeting, a meeting took place today between the families of the hostages and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Upon leaving the meeting, the families said: "We heard from the Prime Minister that the time has come for a deal to release the hostages." We called on him to act now to release all the hostages. Living and deceased alike. We reiterated that everyone is humanitarian. The Prime Minister told us that he also understands that the hostages will only return through a deal. And that he is willing to ceasefire to promote the return of hostages. What worked in the north will work in the south."

According to them: "The Prime Minister noted that there are reasons for optimism." We called on him not to miss the opportunities as may have happened in the past. The Prime Minister promised that there would be no coalition considerations regarding the issue of returning the captives. According to him: "Coalition considerations are nonsense." The Prime Minister said there are several possible outlines. In the meeting, it was not clarified to us which outline is actually being promoted.

Additionally, the families noted that in the question posed to Netanyahu regarding the fallen, the Prime Minister assured that the fallen would be integrated at various stages of the agreement, and not at the expense of living hostages. In summary, they noted: "We understand from the Prime Minister that he recognizes significant progress in the ability to reach a deal." We requested that periodic meetings with the Prime Minister be held between breaths. We hope to hear about progress in the coming days.