Gaza ceasefire talks to start on Monday as Trump talks up prospects of deal

Hamas and Israeli negotiators are expected to begin indirect talks in Egypt on Monday as US President Donald Trump pressures the two sides to agree to end the war in Gaza.

The negotiations, taking place in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, are seeking an agreement over key parts of the peace plan unveiled by the Trump administration last week, including the release of the Israeli captives and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Hamas's delegation will be led by Khalil al-Hayya - who survived Israel's assassination attempt in Doha last month - while Israel's strategic affairs minister and Netanyahu confidante Ron Dermer will head up Israel's negotiating team.

Trump has dispatched his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to attend the talks.

Trump said on Sunday night that discussions had been "very successful" and were "proceeding rapidly".

"I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The 20-point peace plan, announced last Monday, plans for reconstruction, the formation of a new Gaza administration, and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.

It would see a gradual Israeli pullback from Gaza and large amounts of aid enter the territory if Hamas agrees to release the captives.

Several contentious points continue to stand in the way of an agreement to release the captives, including Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and which Palestinian prisoners Israel will release in exchange for the hostages.

The Palestinian armed group responded positively to the plan, saying it agreed to release the 48 captives – alive and deceased – and step down from power.

However, it ignored other points including the demand for Hamas's disarmament, which it has long rejected.

Trump responded by announcing an agreement and ordering Israel to stop bombing Gaza, which it has largely ignored.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised Trump's ceasefire push ahead of the talks, calling it "the right path to lasting peace and stability".

Egyptian and Qatari officials held discussions with the Hamas negotiating team on Monday morning ahead of the indirect talks with the Israelis.

Israeli strikes continue

Israel has continued to pound Gaza since Friday despite Trump's call for an end to the bombing.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, which have focused on Gaza City as Israeli forces try to seize control of the city.

Thousands of people have been killed and injured in the intense air and ground campaign, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of others to the south of the enclave.

Israeli forces have killed at least 67,139 – mostly civilians – since beginning their genocidal assault on Gaza on 7 October 2023, according to the local health ministry.

The offensive has decimated most of Gaza and imposed a famine on its 2.2 million residents.

Far-right outrage

The Trump plan has drawn outrage from Israel's far-right, who have long demanded that Netanyahu continue the war and take over the territory.

Extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to pull his Jewish Power party from the coalition if Netanyahu does not resume the war after Hamas releases the captives.

"It is impossible under any circumstances to agree to a scenario I which the terrorist organisation that brought upon the State of Israel its greatest disaster will have any chance of recovery," he wrote in a post on X.

"We will not be partners to that under any circumstances."

Israel's far-right harbour ambitions to annex Gaza into Israel and rebuild Jewish settlements in the territory. Together with their allies in Netanyahu's Likud party, they have pushed for the expulsion of the Palestinians into third countries in an act of ethnic cleansing, which they refer to a "voluntary migration".

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister and head of the Settlements Administration, said it was a "grave mistake" to enter negotiations with Hamas.

Jewish Power and Smotrich's Religious Zionism party are key members of Netanyahu's fragile coalition and have long exercised their leverage to press for a continuation of the war.

Should they pull their support, the government would likely collapse and trigger fresh elections.