Israel has agreed to an American proposal to exchange 700 Palestinian prisoners for 40 of the remaining hostages in Gaza, according to two reports of the negotiation talks being held in Qatar.
Hamas has not yet signed on, however.
"We're still not close to an agreement, but the negotiations continue," a senior Israeli official told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Some members of the Hamas leadership have already rebuked the plan, describing comments from Israeli officials as "manipulation to justify the continuation of the war," Haaretz reported.
These discussions follow Israel rejecting a proposal from Hamas to release 700 to 1000 Palestinians, with Israeli officials describing the plan as "ridiculous" and "absurd," according to CNN.
There are an estimated 130 hostages, including some Americans, captured during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel who remain in Gaza. There are approximately 7,000 Palestinians currently being held in Israeli prisons, with at least 2,000 being held under administrative detention - meaning they were never charged with or convicted of any crime, according to Human Rights Watch.
Of the 700 Palestinians that would be slated for released under the American deal, there are reportedly 100 who are serving life sentences for killing Israelis, according to CNN.
Under the American proposal, the hostages will be released in stages, with Hamas proposing that they will first release the remaining women, the elderly, the sick and wounded. This plan will likely include some of the remaining American men, according to CNN.
Among the disputed terms of the American hostage proposal are the distribution of aid to Palestinian civilians and the ability of displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza.
Arab diplomats say that Hamas wanted the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to handle aid distribution but Israeli officials refused, alleging that the UN agency has ties to Hamas, Haaretz reported.
The same officials also allege that Israel does not want any displaced Palestinians - including women and children - to return to the northern region of the Gaza Strip, which has been subject to intense bombardment since the Oct. 7 attacks.
It is expected that a definitive response from Hamas will not come for several days.
"Those details need to go from Hamas representatives in Doha, who are negotiating, to the person who really calls the shots, and this is Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, who is in a bunker some 100 feet under the ground, so this takes a long time," said CNN analyst Barak Ravid.
The families of the remaining hostages wrote a letter to President Joe Biden last week, urging him to "convince all parties, including the Israeli Prime Minister, to agree to the deal that you assess is reasonable."
"Above all, the Israeli public yearns for the safe return of the hostages," the letter said, according to Haaretz.
"We are reaching out to you because we are increasingly frustrated and worried about the lack of ongoing communication and commitment from the Israeli Prime Minister and the War Cabinet to the hostage release cause."
