‘Good chance’: Talks begin on plan to end Gaza war
Ahmed Fahmy, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Andrew Mills |
Delegations from Israel and Hamas have begun indirect negotiations in Egypt that the United States 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 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 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 two-year-old conflict.
Trump, who has cast himself as the only world leader capable of achieving peace in Gaza, has invested significant political capital in efforts to end the war that has killed tens of thousands and left US ally Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage.
“I really think we’re going to have a deal,” Trump told reporters on Monday at the White House as the delegations met in Egypt.
“We have a really good chance of making a deal, and it’ll be a lasting deal.”
But both sides are seeking clarifications of crucial details, including those that have derailed previous attempts to end the war and could defy any quick resolution.
Trump has pushed Israel to suspend its bombing of Gaza for the talks. Gaza residents said Israel had scaled back its offensive substantially, although not halted it altogether.
Gaza health authorities reported 19 people killed by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, around a third of the typical daily toll in recent weeks, when Israel has been mounting one of its biggest offensives of the war in Gaza City.
Egyptian state TV reported indirect talks had begun at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh with delegations from Egypt, the United States and Qatar also present as intermediaries.
The talks commenced on the eve of the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war, when fighters killed 1200 people and took 251 hostages, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and left the majority of 2.2 million Gazans homeless and hungry in an enclave destroyed by relentless bombardment.
Israel will not compromise on withdrawing troops only to the so-called yellow line in Gaza — a boundary for an initial Israeli pullback under the Trump plan, the source said. It would create a strategic buffer zone, and further withdrawal would depend on Hamas meeting set conditions.
Though Trump says he wants a deal quickly, an official briefed on the negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he expected the round of talks starting on Monday would require at least a few days.
An official involved in ceasefire planning and a Palestinian source said Trump’s 72-hour deadline for the hostages’ return could be unachievable for dead hostages. Their remains may need to be located and recovered from scattered sites.
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 Israel might ditch negotiations once it recovered the hostages.
The US has sent special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son in law who has strong ties to the Middle East, the White House said.
The parties “are going over the lists of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
“The administration is working very hard to move the ball forward as quickly as we can,” she told reporters.
A thorny issue is likely to be the Israeli demand, echoed in Trump’s plan, that Hamas disarm, a Hamas source told Reuters. The group has insisted it will not disarm unless Israel ends its occupation and a Palestinian state is created.
Reuters
