Before the Rafah invasion, Israel warns Egypt that this is their "last chance" to negotiate a prisoner deal.

On Friday, senior Israeli officials informed their Egyptian counterparts that Israel is prepared to provide hostage discussions "one last chance" to come to an agreement with Hamas, but that if progress is not made quickly, it will proceed with a ground invasion of Rafah.

Why it matters: Egyptians are pushing at the last minute for a hostage deal that would result in a ceasefire in Gaza and prevent an invasion of Rafah because they are growing increasingly apprehensive about a potential Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Concerns have been expressed by Egyptian authorities that an Israeli operation in the city would allow tens of thousands of Palestinians to enter their country, possibly resulting in a border breach that would put lives in danger

The Israeli war council has made the decision to reassess how many prisoners Israel requires Hamas to release in exchange for a deal.

The deal that was on the table called for the release of about 900 Palestinian inmates and 40 hostages in exchange for a six-week ceasefire.
Among the forty captives were women, female soldiers, men over fifty, and males in bad health who would be freed for humanitarian reasons.

However, Hamas asserted in recent weeks that there are only roughly 20 hostages that meet these humanitarian requirements.

For the first time this week, Israeli officials say, the Israeli war cabinet gave the Israeli talks team permission to talk about the release of less than 40