Israel, Hamas upbeat as top US envoys join Gaza peace talks

Dubai: Top US negotiators joined high-stakes discussions in Sharm Al Sheikh on Wednesday aimed at ending the Gaza war, with Egypt and Hamas both voicing “encouraging” signs of progress.

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi said he had received “very positive” feedback since the arrival of US President Donald Trump’s envoys — senior adviser Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — late Tuesday night.

“The envoys came with a strong will, a strong message, and a strong mandate from President Trump to end the war in this round of negotiations,” Al Sissi said, calling the early signs “very encouraging.” He invited Trump to travel to Egypt for a possible signing ceremony should a deal be reached.

Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, now the basis of the talks, calls for a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, Hamas’s disarmament, and a phased Israeli withdrawal from the enclave. At the White House on Tuesday, Trump told reporters, “There’s a possibility we could have peace in the Middle East.”

‘Spirit of optimism prevails’

Senior Hamas official Taher Al Nunu told AFP from Sharm Al Sheikh that “mediators are making great efforts to remove obstacles to the ceasefire’s implementation, and a spirit of optimism prevails.”

He said Hamas had submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants released from Israeli jails in the first phase of the truce, “in accordance with the agreed-upon criteria and numbers.”

In return, Hamas is expected to release 47 hostages, both alive and dead, seized during its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The talks — attended by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin — are taking place under the shadow of that attack’s second anniversary, which left 1,219 people dead, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.

Mounting toll and pressure

Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has since killed at least 67,183 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory — figures deemed credible by the United Nations. More than half of the dead are women and children.

Despite the talks, airstrikes and shelling continued Wednesday. Gaza’s civil defence agency reported three bodies pulled from rubble, while an AFP reporter near the border in Israel heard multiple explosions through the morning.

In Gaza, residents spoke of desperation. “We’re back to famine again,” said Umm Ahmad Al Zayyan, from Gaza City’s Tel Al Hawa district. “There is no flour, no rice, no food. My children have been going to bed hungry every night for weeks.”

Protests and vigils also marked the war’s anniversary in Israel, where families of hostages called for urgent action.

Focus on prisoners

A key point of contention remains the hostage-prisoner exchange and guarantees that the war will not resume after a deal.
Egyptian media said Hamas is pushing for the release of Marwan Barghouti, the jailed Fatah leader often called the “Palestinian Mandela.” Barghouti has been in prison since 2002, serving multiple life sentences for murder.

Hamas negotiator Khalil Al Hayya said the group is seeking “guarantees from President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all.”

A Palestinian source close to the delegation told AFP that Tuesday’s session included discussions on “initial Israeli maps outlining troop withdrawal” and “the mechanism and timetable for the hostage-prisoner exchange.”

Regional momentum

The Sharm Al Sheikh talks have drawn Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey together with US mediators in the most serious diplomatic push since Trump unveiled his Gaza peace plan last month.

Al Sissi said “this may be the moment to end the war for good,” while both sides privately described the talks as the most “constructive” since fighting began.

As optimism cautiously grows, the world watches for what could be the first ceasefire agreement since the devastating conflict erupted — and possibly, a rare moment of alignment between Washington, Cairo, and Doha in pursuit of peace.