Five different countries were involved in recent attempts to push forward an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would include a new prisoner swap arrangement, according to senior member of Hamas’s political wing Musa Dudin, Hebrew-language broadcaster Channel 12 reported Thursday.

Speaking to Palestinian media, Dudin said that Egypt spearheaded efforts — along with Qatar, Turkey, Sweden and Germany — to release Israeli soldiers’ remains, as well as Israeli civilians believed to be held captive in the Gaza Strip,

“These attempts did not progress because of the occupation’s lack of consistency and lack of ripeness to begin handling the process,” the Hamas official was quoted by Channel 12.

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