Hamas representatives and Israeli delegates begin indirect negotiations in Egypt on American Gaza ceasefire initiative.
News Agency
Third-party negotiations focused on achieving a final agreement on a US peace plan to halt hostilities in Gaza have begun in the Red Sea resort of the Egyptian resort town.
Palestinian and Egyptian officials have indicated that the meetings are concentrating on "creating the field conditions" for a potential swap that would see the freeing of all captured Israelis in compensation of a group of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has said it accepts the negotiation framework to some extent, but has failed to address several essential conditions - including its military demobilization and governance position in Gaza.
The government official said on recently that he hoped to announce the liberation of hostages "in the coming days"
Conflict Timeline
The negotiations, which will see Egyptian and Qatari officials conducting mediation with delegations from both the conflicting parties separately, come on the approach of the two-year mark of the Hamas-led attack on Israeli territories on October 7th, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
The Israeli military began military actions in Gaza in response. From that point, over 67,000 have been fatally injured by armed interventions in Gaza, as reported by the region's medical administration.
Proposal Framework
The 20-point plan, which has been endorsed by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggests an prompt cessation to combat and the freeing of 48 captives, only 20 individuals are thought to be living, in compensation of multiple hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The framework requires that once the two parties accept the proposal "humanitarian support will be promptly delivered into the conflict zone"
It also specifies that the organization would have no involvement in political leadership, and it leaves the door open an future Palestinian sovereignty.
Current Situation
In the latest development, the group answered to the initiative in a announcement, in which the group agreed "to free all captured individuals, both surviving and deceased, following the swap arrangement specified by President Trump's proposal" - if the necessary circumstances for the exchanges are fulfilled.
It failed to address or approve the detailed initiative but said it "restates its approval to hand over the governance of the conflict zone to a governing council of technocrats, founded on local agreement and regional endorsement"
The statement omitted reference of one of the crucial requirements of the plan – that Hamas agree to its weapons surrender and to playing no further role in the governance of Gaza.
International Response
Gaza inhabitants characterized Hamas' response to the negotiation initiative as surprising, after an extended period of indications that the group was considering denial or at least heavily condition its acceptance of the American initiative.
Alternatively, the militant group omitted its established limits in the official statement, a move many view as a sign of outside forces.
Global and local representatives have welcomed the proposal. The local administration, which governs parts of the Palestinian territories, has characterized the Trump administration actions as "sincere and determined"
The Islamic Republic - which has been one of the group's primary supporters for decades - has also now signalled its endorsement of Trump's Gaza peace plan.
Present Conditions
Armed attacks continued in various locations of the Palestinian territory on the beginning of the week before the negotiations starting.
Israel is implementing an military operation in the urban area, which it has stated is designed to achieving the release of the remaining hostages.
An official representative, speaking for the territory's Hamas-run civil defence, reported that "assistance vehicles have been allowed into Gaza City since the offensive began recently"
"There are still bodies we are unable to recover from locations under military occupation" he commented.
Numerous individuals of the urban center have been compelled to evacuate after the Israeli military mandated relocations to a specified safe zone in the lower territory, but additional numerous individuals are considered to have persisted.
Israel's defence minister has admonished that those who persist during the military operation would be "combatants and their sympathizers"
In the recent period, 21 Palestinians have been lost their lives in Gaza and a additional 96 injured, the Hamas-run health ministry said in its latest update.
Global media representatives have been prohibited by the government from accessing the Gaza Strip autonomously since the start of the war, making authenticating statements from the conflicting groups challenging.