Negotiations for Hamas to release Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for a cease-fire and Palestinian terrorists freed from prison have reached advanced stages, but the deal is not yet finalized, two Israeli diplomatic sources confirmed on Monday.

“There are advances in all components of the agreement,” said one source. “We are certainly in advanced stages … Reaching an agreement could be a matter of hours or of days.”

While the agreement was still not final, the sources said Hamas was showing greater seriousness than it had in the past year, during which “Hamas was not part of the negotiations” that were taking place between the Israeli team, the U.S. and Qatari mediators.

“We are now in a different reality, very similar to November 2023 [when the previous hostage release took place], when there were effective negotiations towards a deal about the details of implementation. This is a very significant change,” a source said.

Both Israeli sources attributed the change in Hamas’ approach to a combination of Israeli military achievements and President-elect Donald Trump’s threats that “all hell will break out” if the hostages are not released by the time of his inauguration next week. 

“Why are there cracks now in Hamas’ [resolve]?” one source said. “There was the ground incursion in Lebanon, the assassination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, the assassination of [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, crazy [IDF] military pressure on the north of Gaza. This isolated Hamas. We struck the Shiite Iranian axis and Hamas is alone. They don’t have Hezbollah or Iran, they only have the Houthis.” 

In addition, the source said, Trump began to involve himself in the negotiations, making it clear that he is serious about pushing for the hostages to be released. 

Israel is coordinating with the outgoing and incoming American administrations, which are also coordinating with each other, a source said. He recounted being present when Steve Witkoff, Trump’s appointee for Middle East envoy, was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and they spoke on the phone with White House Coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk. 

Amid criticism of a potential partial hostage deal, the sources insisted that the negotiations are to free all of the remaining 98 hostages.

“We will not leave Gaza until we bring back all of our hostages, this must be emphasized,” a source said.

However, the outline currently under negotiation, the sources confirmed, involves the release of 33 hostages in the humanitarian category — children, elderly and infirm — in the first stage. 

The Israeli officials said they officially know of 36 dead hostages, which means they consider most of the hostages to be alive and are aiming to maximize the number of living hostages released initially. 

However, Hamas had not yet responded to Israel’s list of hostages to free in the first stage nor had it confirmed which are alive.

According to the agreement, as the initial group of hostages are released, a temporary cease-fire would begin and Palestinian terrorists would be released. The sources could not confirm how many Palestinian prisoners will be freed, saying that it depends on how many living or dead hostages are released; however, terrorists involved in the murder of Israelis will be freed from prison. Israel refuses to allow the latter to go to the West Bank and is negotiating for them to be deported, the sources confirmed. None of the Palestinian prisoners set to be released participated in the Oct. 7 attack

Talks on the second stage of the hostage-release and cease-fire deal would begin 16 days after the first stage began. 

Israel will retain levers to pressure Hamas, one of the sources said, including “geographic levers” — meaning the IDF remaining in parts of Gaza — and high priority Palestinian terrorists that will not be released in the initial stage. 

“This is how we can ensure Hamas stays in the deal and will execute it stage by stage to the last hostage,” the source said.

The negotiations also include the IDF remaining in a buffer zone around the perimeter of Gaza to protect towns in the western Negev, as well as on the Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border. 

Israel has demanded a security mechanism along the Netzarim Corridor dividing northern and southern Gaza that would ensure that weapons are not smuggled north, the sources confirmed. Whether that mechanism would be operated by the IDF or another country remains under negotiation.

The negotiations also include an amount of humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.