The Mossad chief David Barnea and Ronen Bar, head of the security service Shin Bet, are in Egypt's capital Cairo for continued peace talks.
The Israeli negotiators are on site to "move forward with a hostage deal", according to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson, AFP reports.
However, the latest reports from the negotiations have been far from positive. From the American side, it has been stated that Israel has accepted the proposal on the table, while Israeli representatives have repeatedly denied this.
Want to stay permanently
The main obstacles are currently said to be the issue of the land corridors Philadelphi and Netzarim, which Israel occupies with a strong military presence.
Netanyahu wants Israel to establish permanent control, above all, of the Philadelphia corridor – which runs along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt – to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its capacity through smuggling.
The terrorist-stamped extremist movement, however, has long demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip in order to agree to a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal.
Circumventing the blockade
According to Israel, there are hundreds of tunnels in the border area, through which everything from weapons to cars, drugs, and food is smuggled into Gaza from Egypt.
For Palestinians, the tunnels have functioned as a lifeline – and a way to circumvent the strict Israeli blockade that was introduced when Hamas took power in 2007.
The second disputed corridor, Netzarim, runs across Gaza further north in the strip and prevents Palestinians from moving freely. According to the latest reports, Israel wants to maintain a military presence there as well, writes The Times of Israel, which Hamas is said to refuse to accept.
