Opposition leader Yair Lapid said he spoke with a senior representative of one of the mediating countries in the negotiations for the release of hostages, who told him that a deal could be implemented. In an interview with the ynet studio, he said that "the mediators don't understand why Israel hasn't returned to them." According to him, that representative told him that the deal for releasing the hostages could be carried out after Hamas returned a positive response. He added that "Hamas's response contains 98% of what Whitecoft asked for. The deal can be implemented, but we haven't gone back to the mediators."