Top officials join Israel-Hamas talks, signaling toughest issues in US plan are on the table

Audio By Carbonatix

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s top adviser for the Middle East and other senior officials joined the third day of peace talks between Israel and Hamas in an Egyptian resort on Wednesday, a sign that negotiators aim to dive deeply into the toughest issues of an American plan to end the war in Gaza.

Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived at Sharm el-Sheikh for the discussions.

Hamas says it's seeking firm guarantees from Trump and mediators that Israel won't resume its military campaign in the Palestinian territory after the militant group releases all the remaining hostages.

All sides have expressed optimism for a deal to end the two-year war, with tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and most of the Gaza Strip destroyed. But key parts of the peace plan still haven't been pinned down — including requirements that Hamas disarm, the timing and extent of an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza and the creation of an international body to run Gaza after Hamas steps down from power.

Qatar’s prime minister and top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, was heading to Sharm el-Sheikh to join the talks.

From Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top adviser, Ron Dermer, is also joining, an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.

Representatives from fringe militant groups, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad which is known to also hold an unknown number of Israeli hostages, are scheduled to arrive later Wednesday in Sharm el-Sheikh, according to officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. Their attendance underscores the aim of the talks to encompass all Palestinian groups.

As Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediators met with both sides in preliminary talks on Wednesday morning, a senior Hamas official, Taher Nounou, said that the group has exchanged a list of Palestinian prisoners it seeks to release in return for Israeli hostages under the deal’s terms.

The plan calls for an immediate ceasefire and release of the 48 hostages that militants in Gaza still hold from their surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which started the war and triggered Israel's devastating retaliation. Around 20 of the hostages are believed to still be alive.

It envisages Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza after Hamas disarms, and an international security force being put in place. The territory would be placed under international governance, with Trump and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Wednesday in televised comments that the negotiations so far “were very encouraging.”

Netanyahu has accepted Trump’s plan. His office said Tuesday that Israel was “cautiously optimistic,” framing the talks as technical negotiations over a plan that both sides already had approved.

In a statement Tuesday, Hamas reiterated its longstanding demands for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but said nothing about disarmament, a step it has long resisted. Hamas has also spoken against the idea of international rule, though it has agreed it will have no role in governing post-war Gaza.

Speaking in Sharm el-Sheikh, Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’ top negotiator, told Egypt’s Qahera TV that the group wanted solid guarantees from Trump and mediators that the war “will not return.” It appeared to be his first public appearance since an Israeli strike targeting him and other top Hamas leaders in Qatar last month killed six people, including his son and office manager.

In January, the two sides had a ceasefire that brought the release of some Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Under the agreement — which Trump and Witkoff played a major role in brokering — the two sides were then supposed to enter negotiations over a long-term truce, an Israeli withdrawal and a full hostage release.

But Israel broke the ceasefire in March, resuming its campaign of bombardment and offensives, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas for the remaining hostage releases.

Past rounds of negotiations have frequently fallen apart over the same obstacle, with Hamas demanding assurances of the war's end and Netanyahu vowing to keep fighting until the group is destroyed. The Trump plan attempts to resolve all the issues at once, by laying out Hamas disarmament and a post-war scenario for governing the territory with provisions for a major reconstruction campaign.

Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nakhaleh said that a prisoners’ exchange can happen “in the next few days,” removing any pretext for Israel to mount any further attacks. But he warned in a televised statement to Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV that Israel and its allies shouldn’t expect the Palestinians to “succumb to their conditions and dictation after all the sacrifices.”

Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said that the fact that the Qatari prime minister and foreign minister as well as the intelligence service heads of both Turkey and Egypt are taking part in the talks “gives the talks a strong boost toward achieving positive results” while “narrowing Netanyahu’s room for maneuver to continue the aggression and sabotage the negotiations.”

In the Hamas-led attack two years ago, militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Most hostages have since been released in ceasefires or other deals.

A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said that Israel’s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide — an accusation Israel denies. More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that the bodies of 10 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 61 wounded, it said in its daily report.

The ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the deaths were women and children, is part of the Hamas-run government. The United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

In the Gaza Strip, where much of the territory lies in ruins, Palestinians are desperate for a breakthrough. Thousands fleeing Israel’s latest ground offensive in northern Gaza and Gaza City have set up makeshift tents along the beach in the central part of the territory, sometimes using blankets for shelter.

“There is no food, nor good water, and blockage of crossings,” said Um Sulaiman Abu Afash, a displaced woman from Gaza City. “Our kids sleep in the streets. We buy drinking water. Where do we go? There’s no mercy.”

Sara Rihan, a displaced woman from Jabaliya, said that she was praying for an end to the war.

“I hope we return to our places and homes even if there are no homes,” she said. “Our existence in our land is the biggest happiness for us.”

___

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war