Israel and Hamas appear to be seriously negotiating an end to the war in Gaza and the return of Israeli hostages. A leaked truce proposal hints at concessions by both sides following months of stalemated talks. Israeli leaders are weighing whether to accept a deal that would delay or prevent their planned ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. That scenario would fall short of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledges of “total victory” and the destruction of Hamas. Meanwhile, Hamas’ militant leaders must decide if they should give up the hostages, the group’s biggest bargaining chip. Freeing the 100 remaining captives could secure a long-term truce, but not necessarily a permanent end to the war.

Hamas says it's sending a delegation to Egypt as soon as possible to continue talks in the latest sign of progress in the fragile cease-fire process. The group’s supreme leader Ismail Haniyeh said Thursday he had spoken to Egypt’s intelligence chief and Hamas negotiators would travel to Cairo "to complete the ongoing discussions with the aim of working forward for an agreement.” But chances for the deal are entangled with the question of whether Israel can accept an end to the war without reaching its stated goal of destroying Hamas. The stakes in the cease-fire negotiations were made clear in a new U.N. report that said if the war in Gaza stops today it will still take until 2040 to rebuild.