Hamas said on Wednesday that “optimism” was prevailing in indirect talks with Israel aimed at ending the Gaza war, with the militant group submitting a list of prisoners it wants to be released in exchange for freeing Israeli hostages under a deal.
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The talks aim to thrash out a plan to implement a 20-point peace proposal put forward last month by US President Donald Trump, to which both Israel and Hamas have responded positively.
The plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
“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 from Sharm el-Sheikh.
The Palestinian militant group submitted a list of prisoners it wants to be released in the first phase of the truce “in accordance with the agreed-upon criteria and numbers”, Nunu added.
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In exchange, Hamas is set to release 47 hostages, both alive and dead, who were seized in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were now in Sharm el-Sheikh, and that the word he had received since their arrival was “very encouraging”.