Palestinian Hamas and Israeli officials commence indirect talks in the Egyptian city on the US Palestinian peace plan.

News Agency

Third-party negotiations focused on achieving a final agreement on a US peace plan to halt hostilities in Gaza have started in the Egyptian city of the negotiation site.

Palestinian and Egyptian officials have reported that the meetings are centered around "preparing the environment" for a possible exchange that would involve the liberation of all Israeli hostages in return for a number of detained Palestinians.

Hamas has said it accepts the peace plan proposals to some extent, but has omitted reference to several essential conditions - such as its weapons surrender and future role in Gaza.

The government official said on the weekend that he anticipated declaring the release of detained individuals "in the coming days"

Background Context

The talks, which will feature regional and international officials conducting mediation with representatives from both the conflicting parties individually, occur on the eve of the two-year mark of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were fatally wounded and 251 others were taken hostage.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response. Since then, 67,160 have been fatally injured by armed interventions in Gaza, based on data from the area's medical administration.

Peace Plan Details

The 20-point plan, which has been endorsed by the Trump administration and the Netanyahu government, suggests an quick halt to hostilities and the liberation of 48 detained individuals, only a portion are thought to be alive, in return for multiple hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The framework requires that once both sides agree to the proposal "humanitarian support will be quickly dispatched into the conflict zone"

It also specifies that the militant group would have no role in administering the territory, and it allows for an independent Palestinian nation.

Current Situation

Recently, Hamas responded to the plan in a declaration, in which the group consented "to free all captured individuals, both surviving and deceased, following the transfer mechanism contained in President Trump's proposal" - if the proper conditions for the transfers are fulfilled.

It did not specifically mention or endorse Trump's 20-point plan but said it "restates its approval to relinquish the administration of the conflict zone to a local administration of technocrats, founded on local agreement and international backing"

The declaration failed to address of one of the key demands of the proposal – that the organization consent to its weapons surrender and to ceasing political participation in the leadership of Gaza.

Regional Reactions

Many Palestinians described the group's reaction to the peace plan as surprising, after an extended period of suggestions that the organization was likely to refuse or at least heavily condition its acceptance of the American initiative.

Conversely, Hamas omitted its established limits in the formal declaration, a move many interpret as a sign of external pressure.

European and Middle Eastern representatives have welcomed the proposal. The Palestinian Authority, which controls sections of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has called the American initiatives as "genuine and committed"

Iran - which has been one of Hamas's main sponsors for many years - has also recently indicated its support for Trump's Gaza peace plan.

Present Conditions

Israeli bombardment carried on in various locations of the conflict zone on recently prior to the negotiations starting.

Defense personnel is conducting an offensive in the metropolitan region, which it has declared is designed to securing the liberation of the remaining hostages.

An official representative, spokesman for Gaza's local emergency services, indicated that "assistance vehicles have been permitted entry to Gaza City since the campaign commenced four weeks ago"

"Victims remain we cannot retrieve from zones under military occupation" he said.

Countless residents of Gaza City have been compelled to evacuate after the defense forces mandated relocations to a established protection region in the south, but further countless people are believed to have remained.

The military official has cautioned that those who persist during the combat campaign would be "combatants and their sympathizers"

In the previous day, 21 Palestinians have been lost their lives in Gaza and a additional 96 wounded, the Hamas-run health ministry said in its latest update.

Global media representatives have been restricted by the government from accessing the conflict zone independently since the start of the war, making verifying claims from the conflicting groups challenging.