Talks begin in Egypt on US plan to end Gaza war

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Delegations from Israel and Hamas began indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday that the US hopes will bring a halt to the war in Gaza, facing contentious issues such as demands that Israel pull out of the enclave and Hamas to disarm. Israel and Hamas have both endorsed the overall principles behind US President Donald Trump’s plan.

Talks begin in Egypt on US plan to end Gaza war
Sharm el-Sheikh: Delegations from Israel and Hamas began indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday that the US hopes will bring a halt to the war in Gaza, facing contentious issues such as demands that Israel pull out of the enclave and Hamas to disarm. Israel and Hamas have both endorsed the overall principles behind President Donald Trump’s plan, under which fighting would cease, hostages go free and aid pour into Gaza, the closest they have come to an end to fighting. The plan also has the backing of Arab and Western states. Trump has called for negotiations to take place swiftly towards a final deal, in what Washington hails as the closest the sides have yet come to ending the fighting.

‘Move fast’ says Trump
“I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST,” Trump said in a social media post. But both sides are seeking clarifications of crucial details, including over issues that have wrecked all previous attempts to end the war and could defy any quick resolution. Gaza health authorities reported 19 people killed by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours , around a third the typical daily toll of recent weeks.

Delegations arrive
Egyptian state TV reported that the talks had begun at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh. Egyptian sources said Hamas was seeking clarification of several details, including guarantees that Israel would follow through with promises to withdraw its troops from Gaza once the militants give up their leverage by freeing hostages.

Wariness about process of breakthrough
With Israeli forces blasting their way through Gaza City and flattening neighbourhoods as they advance, Gaza residents say a ceasefire now is their last hope that the enclave will emerge habitable. “If there is a deal, then we survive. If there isn’t, it is like we have been sentenced to death,” said Gharam Mohammad, 20, displaced along with her family in Gaza.

An official involved in ceasefire planning and a Palestinian source said Trump’s deadline to send all hostages back within 72 hours could be impossible to meet in the case of bodies of hostages, some of which would need to be located and recovered from burial sites scattered across the battlefield.

A Palestinian official close to the talks was sceptical about prospects of a breakthrough given deep mutual mistrust, saying Hamas and other Palestinian factions were worried that Israel might ditch negotiations once it recovered the hostages.

The Israeli delegation includes officials from spy agencies Mossad and Shin Bet, Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk and hostages coordinator Gal Hirsch. The Hamas delegation is led by the group’s Gaza leader, Khalil Al-Hayya, who survived an Israeli airstrike that killed his son in Qatar’s capital Doha.

(Reuters)