Hamas said Wednesday it had exchanged a list of names of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be released in a swap deal and was optimistic about negotiations in Egypt over U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.
The negotiations focus on mechanisms to end the conflict, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the exchange agreement, the Palestinian activist group added.
The timetable for implementing the first phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point initiative has not yet been agreed upon during negotiations in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, a Palestinian source close to the negotiations said.
Trump expressed optimism about progress toward a deal Tuesday, the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Israeli attack on Gaza.
A U.S. team, including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who served as Middle East envoy during Trump’s first term, will participate in negotiations on a plan that comes closest to silencing the guns.
But officials on all sides urged caution over the prospects for a quick deal.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer – a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – was expected to join the negotiations on Wednesday afternoon, according to an Israeli official.
Read: Hamas demands concessions as Gaza ceasefire talks face difficulties in Egypt
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, a key mediator, and Turkish spymaster Ibrahim Kalin will also participate in ceasefire negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Hamas wants a complete and permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian “national technocratic body”.
Israel, for its part, wants Hamas to disarm, something the group rejects.
U.S. officials suggest they initially want to focus negotiations on stopping the fighting and the logistics of freeing Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian detainees in Israel.
Learn more: Hamas serious about Gaza deal, but Israeli withdrawal remains sticking point
In the absence of a ceasefire, Israel continued its offensive in Gaza, thereby increasing its international isolation.
Global outrage has grown over the Israeli attack, which displaced almost the entire population of Gaza and triggered a famine crisis. Several human rights experts, academics and a UN investigation say this amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defense after Hamas attack in 2023.
According to Gaza authorities, some 67,000 people were killed in the Israeli attack. It follows the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, during which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli counts.
