Talks begin in Egypt on Trump's plan to end Gaza war
- Last updated: October 6, 2025 | 20:54
Delegations from Israel and Hamas began indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday that the US 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 to 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 closest they have come to an end to fighting. 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 fighting. 'MOVE FAST' SAYS TRUMP "I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST," Trump said in a social media post. But both sides are seeking clarifications of crucial details, including over issues that have wrecked all previous attempts to end the war and could defy any quick resolution.
Trump has told Israel to suspend its bombing of Gaza for the talks. Gaza residents said Israel had scaled back its offensive substantially, although it had not halted it altogether.
Gaza health authorities reported 19 people killed by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, around a third the typical daily toll of recent weeks when Israel has been mounting one of its biggest offensives of the war, an all-out assault on Gaza City.
DELEGATIONS ARRIVE
Egyptian state TV reported that the talks had begun at the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al Sheikh.
Talks were set to begin as the war reaches its two-year mark with the majority of 2.2 million Gazans homeless and hungry in a sea of rubble after Israeli strikes that have killed over 67,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, Gaza health officials say.
WARINESS ABOUT PROSPECTS OF BREAKTHROUGH
A Palestinian official close to the talks was sceptical about prospects of a breakthrough given deep mutual mistrust, saying Hamas and other Palestinian factions worried that Israel might ditch negotiations once it recovered the hostages.
The Israeli delegation includes officials from spy agencies Mossad and Shin Bet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk and hostages coordinator Gal Hirsch.
However, Israel's chief negotiator, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, was only expected to join later this week, pending developments in the negotiations, according to three Israeli officials. Spokespeople for Dermer and the prime minister did not immediately comment.
The Hamas delegation is led by the group's exiled Gaza leader, Khalil Al Hayya, whose visit to Egypt was the first since he survived an Israeli airstrike in Doha, the Qatari capital, last month designed to kill top Hamas officials.
Negotiators from Hamas will seek clarity on the mechanism to achieve a swap of remaining hostages — both alive and dead — for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, as well as an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and a ceasefire, according to a statement put out by the Islamist group late on Sunday.
A thorny issue is likely to be the Israeli demand, echoed in Trump's plan, that Hamas disarm, something the group insists cannot happen unless Israel ends its occupation and a Palestinian state is created, a Hamas source told Reuters.
Netanyahu, whose country has become internationally isolated over its devastation of Gaza, says a Palestinian state will never transpire, defying Western countries that have newly recognised Palestinian independence.
An official briefed on the negotiations said he expected the round of talks kicking off on Monday would not be quick.
Negotiations would last at least a few days if not longer. Prompt agreement is unlikely as the goal is to clinch a comprehensive deal with all details worked out before the ceasefire can begin to be implemented, the official said.
Hamas and Israel have agreed to the fundamentals of Trump's plan, though not key details, but the president was optimistic.
"I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST," Trump said in a social media post.
GERMANY SAYS TALKS MORE PROMISING THAN BEFORE AS THEY ADDRESS 'VIABLE POLITICAL SOLUTION'
Trump's plan, which has won backing from Western and Arab states, is the most advanced effort yet to halt the war, the longest, most destructive and deadliest ever in generations of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said the talks were more promising than previous iterations as "for the first time in two years, it is not just about a ceasefire, but about a viable political solution."
Trump, who brokered normalisation deals with Israel and several Arab states during his first term in 2020, has said his Gaza plan could usher in a wider peace across the Middle East and transform the region.
The first phase of the talks deals with the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel. There are 48 remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are alive.
Hamas on Friday approved a hostage release and some other elements of Trump's plan but sidestepped trickier points, including calls for it to disarm and yield power in Gaza.
PALESTINIAN HOPES, ISRAELI POLITICAL DIVISIONS OVER TRUMP PLAN
Palestinians who have watched numerous efforts to end the war through mediation by Egypt, Qatar and the United States fail are hoping all the same for a quick agreement this time.
"If there is a deal, then we survived, if there isn't, it is like we have been sentenced to death," said Gharam Mohammad, 20, who is displaced along with her family in central Gaza.
Domestically, Netanyahu is caught between growing pressure to end the war - from hostage families and a war-weary public - and demands from ultra-nationalist members of his coalition who insist there must be no let-up in efforts to annihilate Hamas.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X that ceasing the military campaign would be a "grave mistake." He and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have threatened to bring down Netanyahu's government if the war ends.
Reuters