 "wants clarity regarding the timeline for the exit of Israeli soldiers from Gaza. AFP")
A number of top envoys and officials, including from the Trump administration and West Asia, have joined the third day of the discussions today (8 October) – which comes the day after the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel – in Sharm el-Sheikh, an Egyptian resort town. The talks are being mediated by Qatar, Egypt and Turkey.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing a 20-point peace proposal to bring the war in Gaza to a close. The plan calls for, among other things, Hamas to return all the hostages and for Israel to completely withdraw from Gaza.
The war has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and much of the territory in ruins. Experts have accused Israel of conducting a genocide in Gaza – which it denies. An arrest warrant has also been issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and senior members of his cabinet have been sanctioned.
But what do we know about the peace talks? How are discussions progressing?
Let’s take a closer look.
What we know
This is a critical day for the talks. A number of high-profile figures from the Trump administration , including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have joined the discussions today at the Red Sea resort. Both men flew into Sharm el-Sheikh early on Wednesday.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin are participatING in the talks, which restarted at 11 am local time. Sheikh Mohammed’s presence was aimed at “pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement”, an official said. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is also set to join the talks on Wednesday.
Hamas has said that it is optimistic about the status of the talks. The Palestinian militant group has submitted a list of prisoners it wants freed in exchange for the 48 Israeli hostages – around 20 of whom are alive. The list of prisoners includes several of the most prominent Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat.
Barghouti is arguably the most famous Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail. Barghouti, who was jailed in 2022, is currently serving five life sentences. Some refer to him as the Palestinian ‘Nelson Mandela’ and see him as a successor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas has previously attempted to get Barghouti freed, but Israel, which deems him a terrorist, has always refused. Barghouti’s son Arab previously told CNN that Israel didn’t want to release his father because Netanyahu “doesn’t want a partner for peace.”
Saadat, the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was elected as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Previously imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority (PA), he is currently being held in solitary confinement by Israel.
“The mediators are making great efforts to remove any obstacles to the implementation of the ceasefire, and a spirit of optimism prevails among all parties,” senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said.
Nunu added that this will be done in the first phase of the ceasefire “in accordance with the agreed-upon criteria and numbers”. Hamas will reciprocate by releasing 47 hostages it has in custody, including the bodies of the dead, taken during the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’ chief negotiator, earlier told Egypt’s Qahera TV that Hamas wanted guarantees of a lasting ceasefire for the exchange of hostages. al-Hayya was among those that Israel had targeted last month during its strike on Qatar.
The militant group also wants clarity regarding the timeline for the exit of Israeli soldiers from Gaza – which Trump’s plan has not outlined in detail. The group has said it plans to release the hostages in phases – in sync with the exodus of Israel’s troops. al-Hayya has said the group did “not trust the occupation, not even for a second”.
‘Cautious optimism’
Israeli media quoted officials as saying there was “cautious optimism”. Officials told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that “Trump’s success at enlisting the Turks to the negotiations played a key role in persuading Hamas to accept his plan”.
However, they told Euronews that Hamas “might attempt to manipulate the process”.
Trump, who has pushed this peace deal hard despite reservations from his close ally Benjamin Netanyahu, said, “There’s a real chance that we could do something.”
“I think there’s a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East. It’s something even beyond the Gaza situation. We want a release of the hostages immediately,” Trump said at the Oval Office.
Trump said Washington would do “everything possible to make sure everyone adheres to the deal” if Hamas and Israel did agree on a ceasefire. However, a Palestinian official told the BBC there was a ‘deep divide’ over how Hamas and Israel view Trump’s plan.
The official said disagreements had emerged over nearly all the five key issues currently being discussed including the permanent ceasefire, the hostage exchange, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, humanitarian aid and how the territory would be administered.
Netanyahu has accepted Trump’s plan, which calls for the immediate release of the hostages. The plan also calls for Gaza to be placed under international governance and for Hamas to be disarmed – elements the militants have yet to accept.
The Israeli Prime Minister, on the two-year anniversary of the attack, called the conflict a “war for our very existence and future”. Netanyahu said the country was “in fateful days of decision” and would “continue to act to achieve all the war’s objectives: the return of all the hostages, the elimination of Hamas’s rule, and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel”.
Both Trump and Netanyahu have said Hamas must disband and that the militant group can play no role in Gaza going forward. Trump has proposed a ‘Board of Peace’ to oversee Gaza with himself and former Prime Minister Tony Blair at the helm and ‘Palestinian technocrats’ doing the day-to-day work.
‘Asked Turkey to convince Hamas’
Meanwhile, President Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey has said that Trump asked him to help convince Hamas to support his plan to end Gaza’s war. Turkey has been explaining to the group what needs to be done, Erdoğan added. Turkey, which has voiced support for the plan and joined the negotiations in Egypt, has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s offensive, which it calls a genocide. It has halted all trade with Israel, called for international measures against its government, and demanded a two-state solution.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said the mediators were open to ideas. “We don’t go with preconceived notions to the negotiations. We develop these formulations during the talks themselves, which is happening right now,” he said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the talks an “historic opportunity” to “bring this tragic conflict to an end”.
In Gaza, people were desperate for an end to a war that has upended their lives, interrupted their children’s education, and left many families scarred by loss and grief. “My dream is for the war to end now, not tomorrow,” said Abeer Abu Said, a 21-year-old in Gaza who has lost seven family members in the war.
“I don’t trust anyone – from the Israeli negotiators or even Hamas – they all lie to us. Negotiations for the sake of negotiations, while we die every minute.”
The talks began as Israel commemorated the second anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack, which triggered the Gaza war. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians. Militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including over two dozen the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,160 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory – figures the United Nations considers credible. The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that over half of the dead are women and children.
With inputs from agencies