Delegations from Israel and Hamas launched indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday, in talks the United States hopes will finally bring an end to the Gaza conflict. The discussions centre on highly contentious issues, including calls for Israel to withdraw from the Strip and for Hamas to disarm.

Both sides have endorsed the broad principles of President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which envisions a halt to fighting, the release of hostages, and the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza — marking the closest the parties have come to ending the conflict. The proposal has also secured backing from both Arab and Western nations.

“Move fast,” says Trump

Trump has urged that talks proceed swiftly towards a final agreement, describing the current moment as the most promising opportunity yet for peace.

“I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Despite cautious optimism, both sides are seeking clarification on several crucial points — issues that have derailed previous efforts and could once again delay a resolution. Trump has instructed Israel to suspend its bombing campaign during the negotiations. Residents in Gaza said that while the bombardment had eased significantly, it had not stopped entirely.

According to Gaza health authorities, 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours — roughly one-third of the average daily toll in recent weeks, when Israel had intensified its operations with a full-scale assault on Gaza City.

Talks underway in Sharm El Sheikh

Egyptian state television confirmed that the negotiations began in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, coinciding with the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war. That assault killed 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage — the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Israel’s subsequent military campaign has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians according to the local Health Authority, and left most of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents displaced, homeless, and hungry amid the ruins of the Strip.

Egyptian sources said Hamas was seeking assurances that Israel would honour commitments to withdraw its troops from Gaza once hostages were released, to avoid losing all leverage after handing them over.

Doubts over a breakthrough

With Israeli forces continuing to demolish neighbourhoods across Gaza City, many residents see a ceasefire as their only remaining hope.

“If there is a deal, then we survive. If there isn’t, it is like we have been sentenced to death,” said Gharam Mohammad, 20, who has been displaced with her family in central Gaza.

Inside Israel, public pressure is mounting to end the war and secure the hostages’ release. However, right-wing members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet oppose any pause in the fighting.

Although Trump has urged a rapid deal, an official familiar with the talks said this round of negotiations was expected to take at least several days. Another official involved in ceasefire planning said that Trump’s 72-hour deadline for the return of all hostages was unrealistic, as the bodies of several deceased hostages still need to be located and retrieved from across the battlefield.

A Palestinian official close to the talks voiced scepticism about a breakthrough, citing deep mistrust between the parties and concern among Palestinian factions that Israel might abandon negotiations once its hostages are recovered.

The Israeli delegation includes representatives from Mossad and Shin Bet, along with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk and hostage affairs coordinator Gal Hirsch. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Israel’s chief negotiator, is expected to join later this week depending on progress.

The Hamas delegation is led by exiled Gaza leader Khalil al-Hayya, who survived an Israeli airstrike in Doha last month that killed his son. The group said it would seek clarity on the exchange of remaining hostages — both living and deceased — for Palestinian prisoners, as well as on an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

A key sticking point is Israel’s insistence, echoed in Trump’s plan, that Hamas disarm — a demand the group has rejected unless Israel ends its occupation and agrees to the creation of a Palestinian state.

On Monday, Israel also deported dozens of activists it had detained from a flotilla attempting to deliver aid to Gaza, among them Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

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