By Tala Ramadan, Jana Choukeir and Nidal al-Mughrabi
SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Reuters) -Hamas handed over lists on Wednesday of hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged in a swap, and said it was optimistic about negotiations to end the war in Gaza, while U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy were due to join the talks.
Indirect negotiations are focused on the mechanisms to halt the conflict, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the swap deal, the Palestinian militant group added, in a seemingly upbeat assessment of the talks over a plan put forward by Trump, the closest diplomats have come to silencing the guns.
One of the big sticking points will be pressure on Hamas to disarm, an issue it has been unwilling to discuss at the talks which began on Monday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, a Palestinian source close to the negotiations said.
The timing of the implementation of the first phase of Trump’s 20-point initiative has not yet been agreed, the source said.
RUBIO TO ATTEND MEETING IN PARIS
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to attend a ministerial meeting on Thursday in Paris with European, Arab and other states to discuss Gaza’s post-war transition, three diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.
The meeting, which will be held in parallel with the negotiations in Egypt, is intended to discuss how to implement Trump’s plan and assess countries’ collective commitments.
Many Gazans have been displaced repeatedly as they face hunger and shortages of fuel, water and medical supplies.
“Winter is coming … the water is going through (my tent), the rats are coming after us, the mosquitoes and flies,” said displaced Gazan Raed Shahine.
TRUMP OPTIMISTIC, WITKOFF AND KUSHNER DUE TO JOIN TALKS
Trump expressed optimism about progress toward a deal on Tuesday, the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Israeli military assault on Gaza.
He is sending a team that includes his special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who served as Middle East envoy during the president’s first term.
But officials on all sides have so far urged caution over the prospects for a rapid agreement.
Other senior figures were also expected to join the talks on Wednesday, including Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close confidant – and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, a longstanding mediator.
Another participant will be Turkish spymaster Ibrahim Kalin, pointing to a growing role for Turkey, a powerful NATO member which has close contacts with Hamas but which Israel has not previously viewed as a mediator.
ERDOGAN SAYS TRUMP ASKED TURKEY TO HELP PERSUADE HAMAS
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Trump had asked Turkey to help persuade Hamas to accept the deal. But he said it was important to apply pressure to Israel, which he called the main obstacle to peace.
“Peace is not a bird with a single wing. Putting the entire burden of peace on Hamas and Palestinians is not a fair, correct or realistic approach,” he said.
Trump’s plan calls for an international body led by Trump himself and including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to play a role in Gaza’s post-war administration. Arab countries which back the plan say it must lead to eventual independence for a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu says will never happen.
Islamic Jihad, a smaller group than Hamas that also holds Israeli hostages, was also joining the talks on Wednesday.
Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian “national technocratic body”.
Israel wants Hamas to disarm, which the group rejects. Hamas has said it will not hand over its weapons until a Palestinian state has been established.
U.S. officials suggest they want to initially focus talks on a halt to the fighting and the logistics of how the Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian detainees in Israel would be freed.
ISRAELI OFFENSIVE CONTINUES
In the absence of a ceasefire, Israel has pressed on with its offensive in Gaza, although it has scaled back an assault on Gaza City in recent days at Trump’s urging.
The Gaza health ministry said Israeli fire had killed at least eight people across the enclave in the past 24 hours, the lowest death toll it has reported in the past week.
Even if a major breakthrough is reached, there is no clear indication who will rule Gaza when the war ends. Netanyahu, Trump, Western and Arab states have ruled out a role for Hamas.
Global outrage has mounted against Israel’s assault. Multiple rights experts, scholars and a U.N. inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defence after the 2023 Hamas attack.
Gaza authorities say over 67,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive. It followed the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, when 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israel’s tallies.
(Reporting by Dawoud Abu Elkas, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Daren Butler in Ankara, Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan in Dubai and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and John Irish and Angelo Amante; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Peter Graff)
