Witkoff, Kushner join; Hamas says hostage, prisoner lists exchanged with Israel
President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza ceasefire talks in Egypt on Wednesday, as Hamas said the two sides took a first step toward a key point in the U.S. plan to end the devastating war.
The arrival of the US delegation, along with the head of mediator Qatar, comes after a second day of indirect talks as Israel and the Palestinians mourn the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks and the brutal conflict that followed.
Hamas issued a statement on Wednesday saying that a list of Palestinian prisoners who would be released under a deal had been provided to Israel.
“The mediators are making great efforts to remove all obstacles to the implementation of the ceasefire, and a spirit of optimism prevails among all,” the activist group said.
The release of remaining hostages held in Gaza and 1,950 Palestinian prisoners are key elements of Trump’s 20 peace proposal.
Israel has not yet commented on Hamas’ statement.
Hamas’ top leader, Khalil Al-Hayya, said Tuesday that the group had come “to engage in serious and responsible negotiations.”
Hamas was ready to reach an agreement, but needed a “guarantee” to end the war and ensure “it does not happen again”, he told Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera News television channel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not commented on the status of the negotiations, but told Israelis on Tuesday that they were in “fateful days of decision.”
Trump expressed optimism about the negotiations, telling reporters in Washington that there was “a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El Sisi said Wednesday that the messages he received from the negotiations were “very encouraging.”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani is also expected to join the talks, which are taking place in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Qatar wants international guarantees, led by the United States, that what is negotiated in Egypt will lead to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, the arrival of more aid and a permanent end to the war, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told Saudi news channel al-Hadath on Tuesday.
But far-right Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Netanyahu to pursue “complete victory” over Hamas in Gaza, in a video posted on X and filmed by the Temple Mount mosque in Jerusalem.
Another video showed him praying at the site, his latest challenge to a decades-old agreement allowing only Muslim worship at the site.
Israel continued its attack on Gaza while the talks took place. Its military campaign has killed more than 67,000 people, reducing much of the enclave to rubble following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages.
Somber rallies took place across Israel on Tuesday to mark the attacks, including in the south of the country where families and friends paid tribute to the more than 370 victims killed at the Nova music festival.
Palestinians, meanwhile, reflected on two years of brutal conflict and their hopes of ending the devastation.
Alaa Abu Daraz and her children left their home in eastern Gaza on October 7 and, two years later, have yet to return, living on the streets in search of safety.
“Our children are left on the streets, without tents, without shelter, not even a blanket,” she told NBC News this week. “We made it through the summer and survived the heat, but the winter is unbearable; you can’t live or do anything in these conditions.”
Israel faces increasing global isolation because of its aggression.
A new humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, which included a number of Americans, was intercepted by the Israeli military on Wednesday, days after the detention of activists aboard a high-profile flotilla fueled international outrage.
Eight US citizens were “likely kidnapped” by Israeli forces while in international waters, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said Wednesday.
