The first round of negotiations on Gaza between Hamas and Israel concluded late Monday night. “The overall climate is positive,” sources close to the Egyptian and Hamas mediators said, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an end “now to hostilities in Gaza, Israel, and the region.”
The ” climate is positive ,” according to Egyptian mediators, as well as Hamas sources who spoke to the Qatari channel al-Jazeera, which is very close to the Palestinian Islamist movement, reports our correspondent in Cairo, Alexandre Buccianti .
“The discussions were positive last night, with the first session lasting four hours,” one of the sources said.” Indirect negotiations are due to resume at midday,” she added.
The same story came from the American president. “I think things are going very well, and I think Hamas has agreed to some very important things,” the American president said during an exchange with the press in the Oval Office.
“We’re going to have an agreement on Gaza, I’m pretty sure of that,” he added. The 79-year-old Republican, however, indicated that he had “red lines” for the ongoing discussions, without specifying which ones.
These indirect negotiations, conducted in Sharm el-Sheikh on the shores of the Red Sea, are based on the 20-point plan proposed by US President Donald Trump at the end of September to release Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, organize the gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and the arrival of humanitarian aid.
According to the mediators, the negotiations will last several days. Discussions this Tuesday will still focus on technical issues. If progress is made, the head of the Israeli delegation, Ron Dermer, Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, and Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, will join the talks.
On the ground in Gaza, bombings continue
According to al-Jazeera, Hamas indicated that the continued Israeli bombardment of Gaza was an obstacle to the release of the hostages. On Monday, gunfire continued, even though residents of the enclave said the Jewish state had scaled back its offensive, Reuters reported. Gaza health officials reported 19 people killed by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, about a third of the usual daily death toll in recent weeks.
This Tuesday morning, the echo of artillery fire and explosions was still heard in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli army said it had detected a projectile fired from the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
BY RFI
