An-Najah News - The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, held secret discussions with a number of ministers to discuss a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Channel 13 said that Netanyahu had a telephone conversation last week with members of the "Ministerial Committee for Prisoners and Missing Persons", to discuss contacts with Hamas, regarding an exchange deal.

The Israeli Channel added that this conversation was the first of its kind, and that the so-called coordinator of the file of the prisoners and missing persons in the occupation government, Yerun Bloom, spoke with the families of the captured soldiers, and informed them of the existence of contacts with Hamas to conclude an exchange deal.

Hamas has four Israeli captives: two soldiers, Shaul Aaron and Hadar Golden, who were captured by Hamas in the war that broke out in the summer of 2014, and Israel says they were killed while Hamas does not give any information about their status.

And Abraham Mengistu, an Ethiopian, and Hashem Badawi Al-Sayed,an Arab, who hold Israeli citizenship, entered Gaza of their own free will after the Gaza war in two different times.