Hope is rising on Thursday morning in Israel regarding the chances of reaching a hostage release/ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip. If Hamas responds positively to the deal, an Israeli team will leave for negotiations in Qatar as early as the end of next week. According to Israeli media reports on Wednesday evening, Israel is making major efforts to reach a deal ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House next week. Israeli sources say that Hamas is showing “flexibility” to a revised US-brokered proposal. According to the proposal on the table, Israel will halt the war for two months but will agree to extend the ceasefire even after the two months to try and reach an agreement that will end the war. In addition, President Trump will guarantee that Israel will uphold the ceasefire if advanced negotiations take place on ending the war. Hamas will release 10 live hostages and the remains of 18 hostages in five waves over the two-month ceasefire. As part of the deal, Hamas will be strictly banned from holding hostage release ceremonies. In addition, Israel will release terrorists with blood on their hands, ones that Israel has refused to release until now. Meanwhile, the Arab media reported last night that the Hamas terrorist organization is “satisfied” with the new proposal on the negotiating table and that the organization will return its response by tomorrow, Friday. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)