Israeli official: It’s ’50/50′ if new Gaza hostage deal will be agreed

A senior Israeli official tells NBC that it is unclear if a proposal for a pause in fighting in Gaza and the release of hostages will come to fruition.

“I don’t think it’s more than 50/50 it will materialize,” the unnamed senior official says.

Unnamed ministers also tell Channel 12 news that a deal is far from certain.

The war cabinet is currently waiting for Hamas’s response to the proposal.

According to some reports, the outline offers the possibility of a six-week pause in fighting in Gaza for the first time since late November, and the release of all 136 hostages still in Gaza, not all of whom are alive. Other reports, however, have said the framework provides for the release of only 35 hostages — women, the elderly and the sick — during a 35-day initial truce, with the potential for another week’s pause in fighting during which negotiations could be held on further releases. Other reports have cited differing terms in the unconfirmed framework deal.

Hamas and other terror factions are holding onto 132 of the 253 hostages taken on October 7 during the unprecedented shock onslaught, following a weeklong November truce deal that saw the release of 105 civilians, mostly women and children.

The IDF has said 29 of the 132 are dead, citing intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza. One more person is listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.