CAIRO — Israel and Hamas prepared for indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday, as hopes for a possible ceasefire in Gaza began to build after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a hostage release could be announced this week.
President Donald Trump has welcomed the group’s statement accepting some elements of the U.S. peace plan. Israel has said it supported the new U.S. effort. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.
Monday’s discussions will focus on the proposed exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Egypt’s foreign ministry said. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is joining the talks, according to an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief reporters.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the current situation is “the closest we’ve come to getting all of the hostages released.” But he warned that “there are a lot of opportunities here for whoever wants to sabotage it to do so.”
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,’’ he described two phases after Hamas accepts Trump’s framework: The hostages are released and Israel pulls back in Gaza to the “yellow line,” where it was in August.
Rubio told CBS that Hamas should release hostages as they are ready, and that bombardment needs to end so they can be released.
The U.S. plan also addresses Gaza’s future. In a text exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Trump said there would be “complete obliteration” if Hamas stayed in power there. Trump also texted that Netanyahu was on board for ending the bombing and peace in Gaza but added, “soon on the rest.”
Support for a ceasefire grows
“I hope that we are closest to a hostage deal since the (ceasefire) deal in January,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a speech Sunday.
Anxious relatives of hostages gathered near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, with some urging Trump to continue to apply pressure. Israel’s recent military offensive in Gaza City led many to fear for the hostages’ lives.
“We cannot allow such a historic agreement to be sacrificed again,” said Michel Ilouz, father of Guy Ilouz.
As hundreds of thousands of people marched across several European cities and elsewhere Sunday in support of Palestinians, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement welcoming steps toward a possible ceasefire.
In backing Hamas’ willingness to hand over the running of Gaza to a transitional committee, the ministers called for an “immediate launch of negotiations to agree on mechanisms to implement the proposal.”
They also underlined their commitment to the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, unifying Gaza and the West Bank and reaching an agreement on security leading to a “full Israeli withdrawal” from Gaza.
Rubio told ABC that decisions regarding a governing structure or international group to manage Gaza can take place simultaneously with the first step of the ceasefire.
“That’s the part that I think is going to be a little tougher to work through, but that’s what’s going to provide permanency to the end of the conflict,” he said.
At least 12 killed in Gaza on Sunday
Trump has ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza, but residents and local hospitals said strikes continued across the territory.
“While certain bombings have actually stopped inside of the Gaza Strip, there’s no ceasefire in place at this point in time,” Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Badrosian told journalists. She also said Netanyahu is in “regular contact” with Trump and that the prime minister has stressed that the talks in Egypt “will be confined to a few days maximum, with no tolerance for maneuvers that will delay talks by Hamas.”
At least eight people were killed Sunday in multiple strikes in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.
Four other people were shot dead near an aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, according to Nasser Hospital. The Israeli military said it was not involved in the shooting and did not immediately comment on the strikes.
“We’re on the brink, and we don’t know whether one will die of a strike or starvation,” said Mahmoud Hashem, a Palestinian father sheltering in a tent in Gaza City.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in the war reached 67,139 on Sunday, with nearly 170,000 injured. The ministry does not differentiate how many of those killed were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up about half of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
The Israeli military said Saturday it is continuing to work to dismantle Hamas infrastructure across the strip and warned residents not to return to northern Gaza.
Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks contributed from Istanbul.