American and Arab diplomatic sources indicate that while no formal Hamas response has materialized, positive indicators emerge concerning the IDF withdrawal map, particularly after clarifying this represents the final version. Steve Witkoff's Tuesday evening upcoming travels as President Donald Trump's special envoy potentially signals optimistic momentum.

The diplomatic sources report that most disputes have found resolution, covering both terrorist releases within the agreement framework and aid supply arrangements. The terror organization continues demanding massive aid deliveries (600 trucks daily) under its control, while seeking termination of aid distribution through American GHF centers operating under IDF oversight. Sources suggest this matter approaches resolution despite internal Hamas leadership disagreements causing current delays. They maintain cautious optimism for agreement signatures within days.

Senior security establishment officials echoed similar assessments Tuesday, projecting that hostage release agreements could materialize "within days, potentially sooner." They emphasized that "overwhelming majorities of disputes have reached resolution, including aid arrangements enabling 500 daily trucks entering the Gaza Strip – with 300 directed to distribution centers and remaining quantities dispersed throughout the strip ."

Officials confirmed agreement on terrorist prisoner frameworks, encompassing approximately 1,000 terrorist releases and 100-200 life sentence prisoners. "The sole remaining unresolved issue involves mapping questions and Morag Axis withdrawal," they specified.

However, a diplomatic source disputed any breakthrough claims in ongoing contacts. "Currently," the source stated, "Hamas' response is missing , prisoner negotiations have not commenced, and no agreements exist on referenced matters." Similar caution appeared on Saudi A-Sharq channel with Hamas connections, citing Tuesday Palestinian source reports that Qatar negotiations continue focusing on withdrawal maps. According to these sources, Egyptian and Qatari mediators collaborate with American administration officials to overcome the map-related differences, ensuring mutual acceptability.

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Negotiations are reportedly advancing on the potential deployment of Arab forces along the Egypt-Gaza border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, as part of post-war arrangements for the Gaza Strip. London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported Thursday that Egypt has been presented with the proposal, facilitated by the United Arab Emirates, which involves discussions with several Arab nations including Morocco, Mauritania, and Djibouti.

The proposed Arab contingent might be positioned at the Netzarim crossing, a route established by Israeli forces during the ongoing Gaza war. The force would aim to create a buffer between northern and southern Gaza, aligning with potential scenarios for an Israeli military drawdown. Israeli officials are reportedly developing contingency plans for a possible withdrawal from the Netzarim area, while seeking to safeguard national security interests.

Egyptian authorities have expressed a preference for deploying observers to monitor Palestinian security forces' activities in the area, rather than direct intervention. The stance reflects Cairo's delicate balancing act between maintaining regional stability and avoiding excessive entanglement in Gaza's internal affairs.

The Philadelphi Corridor has been a key point of contention in ceasefire and hostage negotiations, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting on maintaining Israeli control over this area to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza.

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American mediators have reportedly adopted a new tactic in the ongoing Israel-Hamas negotiations, focusing on areas of potential agreement while postponing discussions on more contentious issues. The strategic shift comes as conflicting reports emerge about Hamas representation in the talks currently taking place in Egypt.

Sources disclosed to Al-Akhbar, a publication with ties to Hezbollah, on Tuesday morning that US negotiators have embraced this fresh approach. The sources interpret the move as an effort to keep the negotiations alive and avoid declaring them a failure.

Concurrently, Hamas sources contradicted US assertions, confirming to the newspaper that the organization has no technical delegation participating in the ongoing Egyptian-hosted talks.

Nevertheless, reports indicate that technical negotiating teams are slated to return to Cairo this week for another round of discussions. The Egyptian side has consistently opposed a full Israeli presence at the Rafah border crossing, according to the report.

However, Egypt has shown openness to IDF presence along the Philadelphi Corridor – a strip of land between Gaza and Egypt – on several occasions. This allowance comes with conditions: the forces must withdraw according to an agreed timeline, and Israel must commit to this arrangement in writing.

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The IDF have uncovered a tunnel designed for large vehicles beneath the Philadelphi Corridor. However, the IDF spokesperson's announcement did not specify whether the tunnel leads to Egypt.

Since the IDF entered Rafah months ago, forces have been operating against terrorists and terrorist infrastructure both above and, primarily, below ground. They have been locating, mapping, and destroying all tunnels and underground routes accordingly.

One of the main areas where the division and engineering forces, led by the Yahalom unit, have been working to locate tunnels is near the Philadelphi Corridor. Their goal is to discover smuggling tunnels coming from Egypt. Recently, all forces have been focused on locating and destroying underground routes in the area around the Corridor. So far, they have identified and destroyed dozens of such tunnals.

Now, the IDF spokesperson has announced that at the beginning of last week, during one of the operations to locate underground routes in the Philadelphi area, a tunnel was discovered along the Corridor. The tunnel was three meters high, and according to documentation, it seemed capable of accommodating large vehicles able to transport significant amounts of equipment. The IDF did not specify whether the tunnel crossed the border from Egypt.

At this stage, IDF forces continue to investigate and neutralize the discovered underground tunnel , as well as other extensive tunnels that have been found.

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