London Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat claims an Israeli delegation is in Cairo to discuss a potential hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The paper, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of the matter, reports that the deal on the table would see the release of some 40 Israeli hostages in exchange for several hundred Palestinian prisoners, and a weeks-long truce in the Strip.

[Why do I see the hands of Biden and Blinken in this? On the other hand, the Israeli government has a lot of domestic political pressure to keep engaging in these talks too. At this point it seems unlikely that the hostages are still alive, but the Israelis don’t know that for sure, and the families have been successful in rallying public opinion on temporary pauses and exchanges. — Ed]