Delegations from Hamas and Israel have started indirect negotiations in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh, aiming to end the nearly two-year-long Gaza conflict under a peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump.
According to Al-Qahera News, linked to Egyptian intelligence, both sides are "discussing preparing ground conditions for the release of detainees and prisoners." Mediators from Egypt and Qatar are reportedly working to create a mechanism for swapping hostages held in Gaza for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Behind closed doors and amid tight security, negotiators are communicating through intermediaries. The talks come just weeks after Israel attempted to assassinate Hamas’s key negotiators in Qatar. Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s lead representative who survived that strike in Doha, met Egyptian intelligence officials ahead of the discussions, an Egyptian security source told AFP.
The latest round coincides with the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault on Israel, which ignited the war. A Palestinian source close to Hamas’s leadership said the process "may last for several days" and warned it would be "difficult and complex, given the occupation’s intentions to continue its war of extermination."
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected in Egypt to support the initiative. The former US president urged negotiators on his Truth Social platform to "MOVE FAST" to end the war, claiming the first phase could conclude within a week. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called the plan "the right path to lasting peace and stability."
Despite cautious optimism, core issues remain thorny. The proposal requires Hamas to disarm — a condition the group has long rejected — while calling for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has vowed to redeploy troops “deep inside” the enclave to ensure the hostages’ release.
As per AFP, both Hamas and Israel have welcomed Trump’s framework, but the details remain under fierce debate. A Hamas source said the first stage of the plan would involve the release of 47 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees. This initial swap, according to Palestinian sources, “will require several days, depending on field conditions related to Israeli withdrawals, the cessation of bombardment and the suspension of all types of air operations.”
Past efforts collapsed over disagreements about which Palestinian prisoners Hamas wanted freed. The current round aims to set a date for a temporary truce and lay the groundwork for the exchange.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has previously helped with such operations, confirmed its readiness to “help bring hostages and detainees back to their families.” It also stressed that humanitarian aid must “resume at full capacity” across Gaza, where the UN has declared a famine.
The human toll remains staggering. AFP reported that Israeli strikes continued on Monday, killing at least seven Palestinians. Explosions and plumes of smoke were seen across the Gaza skyline, even after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Israel to halt its bombardment.
The war, now nearing its second year, has displaced hundreds of thousands. “The war has destroyed everything I built throughout my life,” said Mohammed Abu Sultan, 49, who fled Gaza City with his family to a refugee camp. “We have been running from death for two years.”
Under Trump’s proposal, Israel would release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life terms and more than 1,700 others detained during the conflict. Hamas, meanwhile, demands a say in Gaza’s future — something Trump’s plan rejects, assigning control instead to a technocratic body under a transitional authority chaired by Trump himself.
Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, Israel’s military chief, warned that if the talks collapse, “the military would return to fighting.”
Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack, which killed 1,219 people in Israel, the Israeli offensive has left at least 67,160 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza’s health ministry figures cited by AFP.
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