The Palestinian radical movement Hamas has promised to provide mediators with a detailed report on the condition of all Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip, Al Arabiya television channel reported.
According to media sources, the radicals have given preliminary consent to the release of "more hostages than initially agreed". The channel did not provide the exact number of Israelis who could return to their homeland as part of a possible agreement.
They added that the hostages are expected to be released "in two stages and on a specific schedule", without providing further details.
Al Arabiya claims that the US has expressed its readiness to put pressure on Israel to accept the new Gaza proposal. Discussions on whether Hamas leaders will be allowed to stay in Gaza have been postponed until the next stage of consultations, the channel said.
Hamas said on Saturday that it had sent a negotiating delegation to Egypt, led by the movement's leader in Gaza, Khalil al-Haya, to continue talks on a ceasefire in the enclave. The militants added that representatives of the movement planned to discuss in Cairo "the achievement of a ceasefire agreement with negotiators from Egypt and Qatar."
The Cairo initiative calls on the militants to release eight or nine hostages, including Eden Alexander, who holds Israeli and American citizenship, and to hand over the bodies of eight hostages who died in the Palestinian enclave. Israel, according to the Egyptian plan, must release several hundred Palestinian prisoners, including 150 Arabs serving life sentences.
During this period, which will last 50 days, the supply of humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza will be restored. The ceasefire period may be extended to 70 days to ensure the resumption of indirect negotiations between the parties to the conflict on the second stage of the agreement. It provides for the cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Hamas has not yet expressed its attitude to this plan.
According to the latest data from the Israeli side, the radicals continue to hold 59 hostages in the Gaza Strip.