Israeli source: Hamas wants to free more hostages this week - on this condition

An Israeli source speaking to Kann News said that Hamas is interested in freeing all six remaining hostages under the terms of the first phase of the deal, in exchange for the introduction of caravans and heavy equipment, as well as a number of key prisoners.

The source said that Hamas is interested in freeing all six remaining hostages this coming Saturday in order to ensure the release of 47 terrorists who were freed under the Shalit deal and have since been rearrested.

According to the source, Hamas does not want to split the release into two rounds of releases, for fear that Israel will not free the prisoners at all.

The source said that to ensure that this release happens, Israel will allow the introduction of caravans and heavy equipment into the Gaza Strip, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed until now.

The Egyptian state media has also reported that the hostage deal mediators have succeeded in ensuring that heavy equipment will enter the Gaza Strip and even showed footage of the heavy equipment driving along roads, though Israel says they have not yet entered the Strip.

The cabinet convened last night to discuss the government's stance towards proceeding with the second stage of the hostage deal, which would require Israel to formally declare an end to the war. The cabinet ultimately made no decisions and took no votes on the matter, leaving second stage negotiations suspended.

During a press conference yesterday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, leading a bipartisan team of Senators to Israel, said that he prays for the return of all the hostages. He also said that Hamas cannot "ever again" have military or political power in the Gaza Strip, and that he is introducing a non-binding resolution in the Senate together with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal to that effect.