Cairo (Somalia Today) — Israeli and Hamas officials opened indirect negotiations Monday in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss a U.S.-sponsored proposal to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza and establish a lasting ceasefire.
Talks lasted several hours and focused on the peace framework outlined by U.S. President Donald Trump. The plan calls for Hamas’s disarmament, a central Israeli demand, and sketches steps for Gaza’s future governance. Trump has said an agreement in Gaza could lay the groundwork for broader Middle East peace.
Despite Trump’s call for an immediate halt to Israeli bombing, airstrikes continued across Gaza, killing at least 19 people in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
Progress in Egypt
An Egyptian official familiar with the talks said Monday’s round had ended and that discussions would resume Tuesday afternoon.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations, said both sides have agreed on most first-phase items, including a hostages-for-ceasefire arrangement.
Israel’s delegation is led by senior negotiator Ron Dermer and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, Ophir Falk. Khalil al-Hayyah heads Hamas’s team.
State-owned Al-Qahera News reported that Arab mediators met first with the Hamas delegation, then held separate consultations with the Israeli side.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s adviser Jared Kushner were also expected to take part, local media said.
Hamas has indicated initial talks will focus on a ceasefire that includes a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a swap of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
The latest push follows Hamas’s acceptance of several elements of the U.S. initiative, which Israel has also said it supports.
Under the draft, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages, about 20 believed to be alive, within three days, surrender weapons, and relinquish administrative control of Gaza.
Netanyahu said the talks would be limited to “a few days maximum.” Hamas representatives warned that locating the remains of some hostages still buried under rubble could take longer.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi praised Trump’s mediation, calling the plan a continuation of the “strategic peace framework” that has anchored regional stability since the 1970s. He spoke during a televised address marking the anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
U.S. pressures Israel
The United States has said Israel’s heavy bombardment must stop before hostages can be released. Israel says it is honoring Trump’s call, describing recent operations as defensive strikes to protect troops.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 19 bodies, including two people killed while seeking humanitarian aid, were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours. Another 96 people were injured.
The ministry said the latest casualties bring the Palestinian death toll to 67,160 since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, with nearly 170,000 wounded. More than half of those killed were women and children, according to ministry figures widely cited by the United Nations and independent observers.
Hamas’s assault two years ago killed roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to the abduction of 251 hostages. Most have since been freed under truce and prisoner-exchange deals.
Meanwhile, relatives of Israeli hostages petitioned the Nobel Prize Committee to award Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for what they called his “unprecedented contributions to global peace.”
“At this very moment, President Trump’s comprehensive plan to release all remaining hostages and finally end this terrible war is on the table,” the families wrote. “For the first time in months, we are hopeful our nightmare may soon be over.”
During a memorial at the Nir Oz kibbutz, among the hardest hit on Oct. 7, Daniel Lifshitz urged negotiators to prioritize the swift release of the remaining captives.
“Israel will pay painful concessions by freeing those who murdered our loved ones,” he said. “But we value life above all, and we trust Trump to deliver.”
Gaza, living in fear
In Gaza, families marking the second birthday of children born the day the war began said they are living in fear and displacement.
Amal al-Taweel, who had her son Ali after years of infertility treatment, said the family is in a tent without sanitation, food, or vaccines.
“I was envisioning a different life for him,” she said. “He has never known what safety feels like.”
The Vatican marked the anniversary by condemning both the “inhuman massacre” of civilians in Israel and the devastation in Gaza.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said that while nations have a right to self-defense, “even legitimate defense must respect the principle of proportionality.”
“The perverse chain of hatred can only produce a spiral leading nowhere good,” he said.
Reporting contributed by Lidman in Tel Aviv, Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, and Nicole Winfield in Rome.
