Before that it was said that the Israeli delegation was traveling to Egypt on Sunday evening. The talks about the Middle East Peace plan of US President Donald Trump are to take place in the Egyptian seaside resort of Schahar EL-Scheich. The AFP news agency learned from Hamas-close circles that the two delegations in the same building would be far from journalists.
Hamas had agreed on Friday with the plan and the release of the Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip. According to a Hamas representative, the Islamist Palestinian organization is “very interested” in an agreement with Israel.
Israel’s head of government Netanyahu attributed it to “military and diplomatic pressure”, which forced Hamas to agree to an release of the hostages. He hoped “that we will be able to bring all of our hostages back in the coming days,” said Netanyahu in a television address on Saturday evening. Israel’s army chief Ejal Samir said on Sunday that the fighting would be resumed in the event of a failure of the negotiations.
Trump said on Sunday in front of journalists in the White House that the talks would “take a few days”. “We’ll see how it turns out. But I heard that things are going very well,” added the US President. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Israel to end bombing in the Gaza Strip. According to the civil protection authority in the Gaza Strip controlled by the Hamas, at least 16 people were killed in Israeli attacks in the Palestinian area on Sunday.
A Hamas representative told the AFP news agency that the Islamist Palestinian group wanted to “immediately” begin with the exchange of hostages with Palestinian prisoners. The aim of the negotiations was to “discuss the schedule for the preparation of the conditions on site for the transfer” of the Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip. This is the “preliminary stage” for the initiation of the hosts with the hosts with Palestinian prisoners.
During the conversations with the intermediaries, Hamas insisted on the fact that Israel had to stop all military activities “in all areas of the Gaza Strip” and retreat from the city of Gaza, the Hamas representative said. At the same time, Hamas and its allies would “stop their military operations and actions”.
Trump sent his son-in-law Jared Kushner and the US-Nahost special representative Steve Witkoff to Egypt for the talks about the peace plan. Federal Foreign Minister Johann WadePhul (CDU) travels to Israel on Monday and will enter his colleague Gideon Saar in Tel Aviv.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) meanwhile spoke on Saturday in two phone calls with Netanyahu and Trump about developments in the Gaza Strip. As government spokesman Stefan Kornelius announced, Merz campaigned for Trump’s Middle East peace plan on the phone call with Netanyahu. Around two years after the Hamas attack on Israel, “this plan is the best chance of freedom for hostages and peace for Gaza”. Accordingly, the Chancellor also welcomed the support of Israel for Trump’s plan and called the announced withdrawal of the Israeli forces in Gaza a “right step”.
Merz also coordinated with Trump “on developments in Gaza”, explained Kornelius. Both agreed that a “quick agreement” had to be achieved in the upcoming discussions in Egypt.
In addition to the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, Trump’s plan presented last Monday provides for a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip. Israel is said to release 250 Palestinian prisoners who are serious in prison. In addition, 1700 people detained in the Gaza Strip are to be released. The radical Islamic Hamas is to be disempowered and give up its weapons.
According to the plan, Hamas will no longer play a role in the administration of the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas insists on a say. A Hamas representative told the AFP on Saturday that Egypt will organize a conference for a “inner Palestinian dialogue about the Palestinian unity and the future of the Gaza Strip, including the administration of the Gaza Strip”.
