Hamas and Israel open talks in Egypt under Trump's Gaza peace plan

CAIRO: Delegations from Hamas and Israel on Monday (Oct 6) began indirect talks in Egypt on ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza, with US President Donald Trump judging that the Palestinian militant group was ready to compromise over his proposals for a deal.

Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian state intelligence, said the first round of talks ended "amid a positive atmosphere" and would continue on Tuesday.

Behind closed doors and under tight security, negotiators were to speak through mediators shuttling back and forth, only weeks after Israel tried to kill Hamas' lead negotiators in a strike on Qatar.

Al-Qahera News earlier said delegations were "discussing preparing ground conditions for the release of detainees and prisoners".

"Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working with both sides to establish a mechanism" for the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, it said.

Trump told reporters at the White House he was "pretty sure" a peace deal was possible.

"I think Hamas has been agreeing to things that are very important ... I think we're going to have a deal."

Hamas's lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who survived Israel's attack on the Palestinian Islamist movement's leaders in Doha last month, held a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials ahead of the talks, an Egyptian security source said.

This round of negotiations, launched on the eve of the second anniversary of Hamas's Oct 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war, "may last for several days", said a Palestinian source close to Hamas' leadership.

"We expect the negotiations to be difficult and complex, given the occupation's intentions to continue its war of extermination," he told AFP.

Trump, whose envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected in Egypt, has urged negotiators to "move fast" to end the war in Gaza, where Israeli strikes continued on Monday.

At least seven Palestinians were killed in the latest Israeli air strikes, according to Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency.

AFP footage showed explosions in the Gaza Strip, with plumes of smoke rising over the skyline, even after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel must stop bombing the territory.

"REQUIRE SEVERAL DAYS"

Both Hamas and Israel have responded positively to Trump's proposal, but reaching an agreement on the details is set to be a huge task.

The plan envisages the disarmament of Hamas, which the militant group is unlikely to accept.

It also provides for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, but Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to redeploy troops "deep inside" the territory while securing the release of hostages.

According to the Palestinian source, the initial hostage-prisoner exchange 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".

Negotiations will look to "determine the date of a temporary truce", a Hamas official said, as well as create conditions for a first phase of the plan, in which 47 hostages held in Gaza are to be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was ready to help with hostage and detainee returns and to facilitate aid access across Gaza, where the UN has declared a famine.

"The war has destroyed everything I built throughout my life," said Mohammed Abu Sultan, 49, who fled Gaza City with 20 family members to Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

"We have been running from death for two years."

MILITARY HALT

A Palestinian source close to Hamas said it would halt its military operations in parallel with Israel stopping its bombardment and withdrawing its troops from Gaza City.

Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir however warned that if the negotiations failed, then the military would "return to fighting" in Gaza.

Militants seized 251 hostages during their Oct 7, 2023 attack, 47 of whom are still in Gaza. Of those, the Israeli military says 25 are dead.

According to Trump's plan, in return for the hostages, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and more than 1,700 detainees from Gaza taken during the war.

Hamas has insisted it should have a say in the territory's future, though Trump's roadmap stipulates that it and other factions "not have any role in the governance of Gaza".

Geopolitical analyst H A Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a defence think tank, said the sticking points will likely centre on the extent of Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas' disarmament, which "is very murky in terms of the details".

"The Israelis, of course, want Hamas to be completely disarmed and essentially for Hamas to surrender," he told CNA's Asia First.

It is expected that Hamas will refuse to do precisely that, he added: "They've already said very publicly that they intend to disarm only in the context of a Palestinian state being established. And of course, the Israelis don't want that to happen."

Hellyer said Washington is likely to push hard for a swift agreement, but noted that past negotiations have faltered because Israeli negotiators lacked a clear mandate, with Netanyahu repeatedly shifting the goalposts.

Trump has indicated that an agreement on Gaza could lay the groundwork for a broader Middle East peace process, potentially reshaping the region.

"It's not about simply the Palestinians that have concerns in this regard. It's the entirety of the region, and I think it's frankly, the overwhelming majority of the international community," said Hellyer.

"They want to see Palestinian self-determination realised and manifested in a Palestinian state. It's not a reward to the Palestinians, and it's not a punishment upon the Israelis. It's an acknowledgement that Palestinians are people who deserve the right to self-determination."

Under the proposal, administration of the territory would be taken up by a technocratic body overseen by a transitional authority headed by Trump himself.

"We hope Trump will pressure Netanyahu and force him to stop the war," said Ahmad Barbakh, from the Al-Mawasi area.

"We want the prisoner exchange deal to be completed quickly so that Israel has no excuse to continue the war."

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 67,160 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.