An Israeli delegation dispatched to Cairo on Thursday for “intensive” talks on the future of the Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas aims to negotiate an extension of the ongoing first phase by an additional 42 days, two Egyptian security sources said on Friday, a day before the phase is meant to end.

Hamas opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed, the sources told Reuters. The second phase is meant to include steps leading to a permanent end to the war, including a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip.

An Israeli diplomatic source said the delegation was to return from Cairo Friday night, but that talks would resume on Saturday.

The first phase of the ceasefire is set to end on Saturday, and the warring parties have yet to clarify what will happen if no agreement is reached by then. Egypt and Qatar are mediating the talks, with US support.

Two Israeli government officials also told Reuters that Israel was seeking to extend the initial phase, with Hamas freeing three hostages each week in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.

Meanwhile, a senior Western diplomat told The Times of Israel on Friday that Israel was gearing up to return to war with Hamas, believing the ceasefire will not last for more than several more weeks.

While the IDF’s tactics in such a renewed conflict would ostensibly shift from the last year of fighting, with Israeli military and political officials pledging a more intensive campaign, the Western diplomat briefed on Jerusalem’s preparations said there did not appear to be a strategic shift in Israel’s approach regarding the advancement of an alternative to Hamas.

The government is still prioritizing the dismantlement of Hamas’s governing and military capabilities, believing that no alternative can be established in Gaza until the terror group has been defeated, the diplomat said. However, the diplomat argued that this approach was “misguided,” asserting that planning and implementing an alternative to Hamas must happen simultaneously with the IDF’s fighting against the group.

“Otherwise, what you will have is indefinite Israeli occupation and Hamas insurgency,” the diplomat said.

In a statement on Friday, the Palestinian terror group urged the international community to press Israel to immediately enter the second phase.

Hamas said that “with the end of the first phase of the ceasefire,” the group “affirms its full commitment to implementing all the provisions of the agreement in all its stages and details.

“We call on the international community to pressure the Zionist occupation to… immediately enter the second phase of the agreement without any delay,” it said.

Hamas sources quoted by Haaretz contended that if the terror group were to agree to extend the first phase by continuing to free batches of hostages, it would be losing the only major leverage it currently has.

“If there isn’t a clear deadline for the end of the war and a full [IDF] withdrawal, the release of all the hostages can’t be expected,” an unnamed source in the group was quoted as saying.

The sources floated a potential compromise that would see the return of sick or slain captives in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners serving lengthy jail terms, alongside improvements in the inmates’ conditions and more aid entering Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the renewed talks on Thursday, without specifying exactly what the sides would discuss, and with other officials indicating Jerusalem won’t agree to advance to the second stage.

Israeli leaders have rejected going through with a full pullout from Gaza as long as Hamas remains in power, instead threatening to resume fighting.

The decision to send the delegation came after Netanyahu held two meetings on Thursday with senior security officials, including Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, according to Channel 12.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that “nobody really knows” whether phase two will come to fruition.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “We have some pretty good talks going on.”

Hamas early Thursday returned the bodies of the last four hostages it was set to release during the first phase of the truce, while Israel released more than 600 security inmates — more than 100 of whom were serving life sentences or were convicted of murder.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, citing information from the military, hostages Ohad Yahalomi, Tsahi Idan, and Itzik Elgarat were murdered in captivity. Shlomo Mantzur, the fourth hostage whose body was handed over in the exchange, was killed on October 7, during the Hamas-led invasion, hostage-taking, and massacres that sparked the war, and his body was taken to Gaza, the PMO said.

Under the ceasefire outline agreed to by Israel and Hamas, Israel’s remaining living hostages — believed to include 24 people —  are to be released during the second stage of the deal. A third stage is also ostensibly planned, during which the bodies of hostages killed on October 7 or in captivity would be released, and the war would end permanently.

An Israeli official sent a statement to reporters Thursday rejecting any withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops from the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, despite the deal’s requirement that it do so by the 50th day of the ceasefire.

Israel contends that the border zone is a major smuggling route that will be used by Hamas to bring more weapons and fortifications into Gaza to rebuild its decimated forces unless it is policed by Israeli troops. Both Hamas and Egypt reject a continued Israeli presence there.

“We will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor. We will not allow the Hamas murderers to again roam our borders with pickup trucks and guns, and we will not allow them to rearm through smuggling,” the Israeli official said.

Israel, with backing from the US, has repeatedly said it will not allow Hamas any role in the future governance of Gaza and that it is prepared to resume fighting to prevent such an outcome. Netanyahu has also refused any role for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.