A barebones framework for a deal with Hamas would see all civilian hostages held by the Palestinian terror group in Gaza freed over a six-week pause in fighting, in exchange for three times as many Palestinian security prisoners released from Israeli jails, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official told NBC News that there were “strong indications” a deal would move ahead, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told family members of hostages that the details of any deal must be kept discreet in order for it to work. …

The outline has been partly accepted in principle by Jerusalem and is being weighed by Hamas’s military leaders, the report said, adding that even if the terror group accepts it, many hurdles remain and numerous details will have to be hammered out over some time — and major disagreements sure to come up will have to be overcome — before a deal can be struck.

[I predict Hamas won’t take the deal, although it gives them six weeks to maneuver. The collapse of their second-front strategy yesterday puts them in a worse bargaining position, but once the hostages are released, Israel will have no internal political pressure to end the war. Hamas will need to capture more hostages, and that’s proving difficult now. They may have “moved” off the demand for a “permanent ceasefire” but they need it more than ever now. — Ed]