Hamas representatives and Israeli delegates commence mediated negotiations in Egypt on the US Gaza ceasefire initiative.

News Agency

Third-party negotiations working toward a final agreement on a American ceasefire proposal to end the war in Gaza have started in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Middle Eastern and regional officials have reported that the meetings are focused on "preparing the environment" for a possible exchange that would see the liberation of all detained individuals in compensation of a number of detained Palestinians.

Hamas has said it consents to the ceasefire initiative partially, but has omitted reference to several crucial requirements - such as its weapons surrender and political participation in Gaza.

Israel's prime minister said on recently that he anticipated declaring the liberation of captives "soon"

Historical Framework

The negotiations, which will involve Egyptian and Qatari officials holding shuttle meetings with teams from both Israel and Hamas in isolation, take place on the verge of the 24-month point of the armed assault on southern Israel on October 7th, in which about 1,200 people were lost their lives and 251 individuals were seized.

The armed forces launched a campaign in Gaza in countermeasure. Since then, over 67,000 have been fatally injured by Israeli military operations in Gaza, as reported by the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Peace Plan Details

The 20-point plan, which has been agreed upon by the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, proposes an immediate end to fighting and the liberation of 48 detained individuals, only a portion are considered living, in compensation of hundreds of detained Gazans.

The framework requires that once the two parties agree to the proposal "complete assistance will be quickly dispatched into the conflict zone"

It also specifies that Hamas would have no role in administering the territory, and it permits an future Palestinian sovereignty.

Latest Updates

Recently, Hamas responded to the proposal in a announcement, in which the group consented "to free all Israeli prisoners, both alive and killed, following the swap arrangement specified by the American plan" - if the proper conditions for the swaps are satisfied.

It omitted reference to or approve Trump's 20-point plan but said it "restates its approval to relinquish the administration of the Gaza Strip to a governing council of independents, founded on local agreement and Arab and Islamic support"

The announcement made no mention of one of the key demands of the initiative – that the organization consent to its military demobilization and to playing no further role in the governance of Gaza.

Regional Reactions

Local residents described the organization's answer to the ceasefire proposal as unexpected, after multiple days of suggestions that the group was likely to refuse or at least substantially modify its acceptance of the American initiative.

Conversely, the militant group excluded its customary boundaries in the formal declaration, a move many view as a evidence of international influence.

Global and local representatives have supported the initiative. The Palestinian Authority, which controls sections of the Palestinian territories, has called the Trump administration actions as "sincere and determined"

The Persian nation - which has been one of the group's primary supporters for an extended period - has also currently expressed its backing of Trump's Gaza peace plan.

Present Conditions

Armed attacks continued in various locations of the Gaza Strip on the beginning of the week ahead of the talks beginning.

Defense personnel is conducting an offensive in the city, which it has said is designed to securing the freeing of the still-detained individuals.

An official representative, spokesman for Gaza's local emergency services, stated that "no aid trucks have been authorized access for the urban center since the military operations started one month prior"

"Victims remain we cannot retrieve from locations under military occupation" he said.

Countless residents of the urban center have been forced to flee after the Israeli military required departures to a established protection region in the southern region, but hundreds of thousands more are believed to have remained.

The military official has admonished that those who persist during the offensive would be "combatants and their sympathizers"

In the previous day, 21 residents have been fatally injured in Gaza and a further 96 harmed, the Hamas-run health ministry said in its most recent report.

Global media representatives have been restricted by the government from accessing the Gaza Strip without supervision since the start of the conflict, making confirming reports from both sides difficult.