Hamas's response to the mediators' proposal included a willingness to release only about 20 abductees. This is about half the number of abductees originally included in the plan.
Also, Hamas demands the release of more Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli abductee. Israeli official: Hamas is using the answer he gave to mediators with "ridiculous excuses" to explain the reduction in the number he is willing to release in the first phase of the deal. The conclusion is that Hamas is dragging its feet, is not interested in a settlement and a cease-fire and continues to hope for unification of arenas and escalation, says the Israeli official. The answer that Hamas gave was with far-fetched elements. There is not even a single clause in which Hamas approves or accepts the position of the mediator. The Israeli official says Hamas divides the agreement into several phases and binds them together. "Hamas conditions the implementation of phase one by providing international guarantees to end the war already in phase two," says the official.